


The Captain's Stain

by RecklessDarkness



Series: Star Wars Canon [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Phasma - Delilah S. Dawson
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Aftermath of Violence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Awesome Phasma, Badass Phasma, Conspiracy, Dark, Dark Past, Difficult Decisions, Drama & Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Enemies, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Madness, Original Character(s), Past, Past Abuse, Past Brainwashing, Past Child Abuse, Past Lives, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Relationship(s), Past Sexual Abuse, Past Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Pregnancy, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery, Rape/Non-con Elements, Redemption, Relationship(s), Romance, Sad, Sad Ending, Secrets, Sex, Star Wars References, Star Wars Spoilers, Star Wars: Phasma Spoilers, The Dark Side of the Force, cardivi, post star wars phasma, vinal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-05-29 06:14:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15066917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RecklessDarkness/pseuds/RecklessDarkness
Summary: After the events of the Phasma novel, Cardinal goes to the Resistance with Vi Moradi. As he tries to forget his past, sometimes unsuccessfully, the spy arouses feelings in him that he hadn’t yet known, challenging him to leave it all behind and finally live a new life. Meanwhile, Phasma rises as the only and uncontested Captain of the First Order, but when a hidden enemy starts threatening her reputation, she is forced to confront her ancient past again, and the big stain that remains her darkest secret.





	1. Undead

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, how are you all doing? So, finally, this is my big Phasma fanfic that will continue Warrior. It's also a sequel to the Phasma novel, so be warned: there WILL BE SPOILERS! I really hope you like it! Just reminding you that this one is part of my Star Wars Canon series, but you can understand it without having read Warrior.
> 
> I'd like to thank my dear friend Lady Aran for always helping me with my fanfiction and much more! I know everything you're going through now, honey, so be sure I'll always be here for you, love <3
> 
> Have a good reading!

**CHAPTER 1**

**\- UNDEAD -** ****  
  


ON PARNASSOS:

 

Maybe it was sunset. The way the light was shining resembled it. Bright but soft, warm in a mix of yellow and white… But white? Well, maybe it was morning. Yeah, morning seemed better. It actually seemed too lighted to be the ending, so it must be the beginning. Or that tiny little moment when both things seemed to blend in the same. The unexplainable second when everything seemed to be left behind, and at the same time starting like there was no past, the end, the beginning, death, life… All together in that same little stain.

A stain that seemed a lot like a droid’s sign, honestly…

The whitish light faded more and more into yellow, and the blurred stain gained a red color and a circular shape as things started to get clearer. Around it there was a kind of metallic-grey form moving from side to side in a somewhat strange way, sometimes blocking the light that seemed to come from some lamps in a ceiling. It beeped a couple of times, and then moved away, making the light shine brighter.

“Welcome back!”

 The voice sounded as blurred as everything around, but you could hear the robotic noise on it. A few seconds after the echo, the figure of a white square droid with moving articulated arms became visible, and the grey moving form with the little red-lighted spot flew to its side.

Cardinal blinked and finally the blur was gone, making the two droids visible, along with a big white room with stretchers and medical instruments carefully placed on tables and shelfs. He could see it by moving his head aside, just a little, as it felt somewhat heavy, like it hadn’t moved for a while.

“I am ZZ-6, and I’m happy to announce that your infection has been successfully cured, and your wound is in healing process” the droid continued his poorly-articulated speech while Cardinal rose up as much as he could to take a better look around. He wore nothing but a grey pair of pants and a t-shirt, and there was a small piece of fabric below, covering a part of his chest.

It didn’t ache when he moved, but he could remember the pain from when the wound had been done.

“ _You’re just going to leave me here? Not even going to finish me?”_

_“I did finish you. You just haven’t realized it yet.”_

The white droid made a noise like he was cleaning his throat “You’re out of coma and completely healthy.”

Cardinal looked at him for some seconds, and the other droid flew away, beeping his way out of the room.

It reminded him of Iris.

“What… What is this place?” he asked.

“This is Station 33.” the droid said, happily “A backup facility for Terpsichore Station, the prime mining facility of the Con Star–”

“And now that you asked, he’s going to talk forever.”

Ironically, the droid stopped when he heard that, and turned his back to Cardinal to look at a petite figure with dark skin and whitish-yellow short hair, who also wore grey clothes. She looked at the Cap… well, former Captain, arms crossed, but with a somewhat unworried smile on her face.

“See, Emergency Brake? You’re not dead.” Vi Moradi said, seating on a stretcher aside. Excepting for the clothes, she looked exactly the same as inside the _Absolution._ She also had bandages in her body, though. Some in her arms and two in her head, each in one side of it. Cardinal quickly remembered the torture chair in the ship, and how it seemed to have burned her temples back then.

“How are you feeling?” she asked. Cardinal blinked a couple of times.

“Honestly? Strange.” he tried to define his current feelings in one word. That one sounded pretty good right now.

“You were not supposed to be in pain.” said the droid’s mechanical voice “Can you describe what you are experiencing right now and give your pain a number from zero to ten–”

“Take it easy, Zee, I’m quite sure he’s just a little dizzy.” Vi interrupted, making the droid snort, if that was even possible.

“I am just doing my job towards the creators.” he politely rebuked “Just the same I’ve been doing for creator Siv and creator Torbi.”

Hearing those names was a kind of shock for Cardinal’s memory.

“Wait, we’re in Parnassos, aren’t we?” he asked, suddenly remembering what Vi had told him right before they left the _Absolution_.

“Yep.” replied the spy “I told you we were coming back for Siv, as I’d promised her.”

Cardinal shook his head to try to relieve his dizziness “How long has it been since we left?”

Vi shrugged “Three days. Don’t worry, the droids took care of all your needs while you were off.”

That was awkward to hear.

“This may not be safe” Cardinal warned, ignoring his thoughts “The First Order–”

“Do you really think they’ll come _here_?”

The way Vi said those words was enough to explain what she meant. No one would actually care about Cardinal’s disappearance in the First Order, and they wouldn’t try to hunt them down as far as the ship in which they’d fled was on Parnassos.

Of course, someone inside there didn’t want anyone coming close to that hellish planet.

“They can still blow us up as soon as we try to reach hyperspace.” Cardinal considered. Vi laughed a little.

“Not with me flying.” she said. Cardinal tried to ignore her lack of precaution thinking that, if they were caught by the First Order somehow, their destiny would certainly be death, so at worst it would be a little painful, if certain people were in the mood for it.

“Well, you made it out of the _Absolution_ , indeed.” he said. His memories were blurred in this part, so he barely remembered giving Vi some coordinates to the ship’s hallways. How she had managed to get out of there would remain a mystery for him forever.

“This will be one heck of a story to tell in the Resistance.” the spy bragged in a somewhat playful way. Cardinal had his elbows on the stretcher to support the upper part of his body, but it still felt heavy, making him wish to lie down again. Mainly after hearing about the Resistance “Anxious to see where your enemies have been planning the downfall of the First Order?”

Cardinal looked away a little “Downfall… You’re very confident.”

“Nah. Sorry to tell you, Emergency Brake, but you guys are so not going to rule the galaxy.” Vi joked “I mean, _they_. You’re with us now.”

Once again, Cardinal waited a couple of seconds to reply “I don’t see another option.” He confessed. His eyes spotted his healing wound again, and he tried to avoid the view, thinking of the whole lot of time he’d dedicated to the First Order to end up like that. Almost his entire life. It hurt the way they’d ceased to care about it long ago, but he couldn’t see the Resistance caring either. Well, some days ago, he considered them nothing but dirt. Not that it had changed. He just didn’t know anything for sure anymore.

“What’s up?” Vi’s words interrupted Cardinal’s confused thoughts, reminding him that, beyond her, there was still a droid inside that room. Zee was staring at him at the moment.

“It’s nothing.” the former captain replied.

“My experience with body signs tells me that you are under huge concerns.” said the white droid “May I recommend an injection to ease your mind? We have adjusted some doses specifically to your system, in order not to cause the side effects that the first one we gave you did while you were unconscious.”

Cardinal stared back at Zee while Vi laughed, and he came to wonder what side effects the droid would be talking about, but decided it was best not to. Even because a slender female figure came through the door at that very moment, quickly, and stopped right aside Zee. She was tall, but the traces of her joyful face left no doubt that she wasn’t yet a teenager. Her skin was dark, but her eyes were a smudge of green and brown, and her hair fell curled in her shoulders.

“Good morning!” she greeted. There was a smile on her face that Cardinal had seen only a few times in his life: the type that only comes to a child who hasn’t yet met danger. The way she stared at him was extremely curious, like she’d barely seen other people in her life, and probably not men. He didn’t have time to answer her, though; soon another woman was coming in too, very similar to the child, excepting for the long dreadlocks in her hair.

“Torbi, I told you not to come here!” she said. The child looked at her with the corner of her eyes, still happily-seeming, although a little shyer.

“Greetings in this new day, creators Siv and Torbi!” Zee seemed pleased to talk “Creator Cardinal has woken up from coma.”

Cardinal wondered if all the droids in the Con Star Mining Corporation called humans ‘creators’. Well, at least Zee didn’t seem to have the intention to make anyone work to pay a debt, like the others Vi had told him about in the _Absolution_. He looked at Siv for a second. Judging by the way Vi had described her, he would never imagine her in soft grey clothes just like his and the spy’s. Torbi wore the same. Right now, they looked nothing like what he’d thought of Scyre warriors.

“So it means we’re ready to go to the stars, like you said?” the child asked, looking at Vi, who just smiled at her.

“Not yet, Torbi, but tomorrow for sure.” she replied “Now we better leave, so that Zee can take care of Cardinal before we go, right?”

Torbi jumped in excitement. Vi rose from the stretcher and walked towards her as she left, but stopped before she could follow the child, when she heard Siv say, not to her, but to Cardinal:

“You were in that place among the stars… The _First Order_.” she kept quiet after saying that, but Cardinal realized she had yet something to say. And it took her almost a full minute to continue “How’s she?”

Somehow, he expected that question. Siv didn’t have a precise expression in her face, not one he could read, at least. She was very neutral. Well, it had been ten years, and she’d been living among droids all this time. Maybe she’d forgotten what human expressions were like.

Or maybe she had learned how to deal with what had happened.

“She’s… Good.” it was all Cardinal got to say, because the truth was that he didn’t want to think about Captain Phasma. Maybe he shouldn’t tell Siv the truth.

“Has she found what she was looking for?” the young woman asked. Vi was right aside her, and looked at Cardinal with a kind of conformity in her eyes. The former Captain looked away from it.

At least, that question was easy to answer.

“She certainly has.”

 

* * *

ON THE _ABSOLUTION_ , 3 DAYS AGO:

 

She had left the training center a couple of minutes ago.

Some stormtroopers walked down the hallways, and all of them stopped to salute her when she passed. She just kept on walking.

It was funny to think that those younger recruits had the slightest discipline. Trained by a soft teacher such as Captain Cardinal, one could expect they wouldn’t even know how to salute. How he got them to respect him was something she’d never know. She’d always considered him an idiot. Ever since she’d got there.

Phasma still remembered their first mission together. It was in Sullust, in her second year in the First Order, a lookout at a village in the planet that ended up worse than it had to be. Not that she cared. Cardinal was supervising the three-days-lasting-action when some villagers started an uprising, and he wasn’t properly able to control it, _obviously_. When she arrived with her troops, most of the villagers surrendered. Some didn’t, of course. So she just ordered one of her men to kill them.

_“The orders were not for a massacre.”_ Cardinal said, when they were heading back to their ships.

_“If I let them live, they would not see mercy, but weakness.”_ she answered, indifferent _“Those who surrendered, they’d learn they could defy us and get away with it.”_

The funniest now was to remember how Cardinal himself had thought he could defy them. Or better, _her_. No wonder why she’d got the troops to respect her better. He only got respect from kids – or better, he _used_ to.

After all, Cardinal was ancient history now.

Phasma headed to the main hangar, where a ship awaited to take her back to the _Finalizer_. She just entered it without looking back, followed by some troopers who often flew from ship to ship.

“DL-3619, communicate the _Finalizer_ of our departure.”

“Yes, Captain.”

The trooper walked out of the line to reach the ship’s communicator. Even in a quick order like that, she knew he’d be the best to accomplish it. He was fast when he talked, but calm. As simple as that.

She knew all her recruits well. In any possible aspect.

They got to the _Finalizer_ after some time, and as soon as the small ship’s door was open, an officer came to Phasma’s encounter.

“Welcome back, Captain.” he said, the red detail in his shoulder reflecting in Phasma’s armor “General Hux awaits in the control room.”

Phasma held her blaster to her chest, as usual.

“Take care of the troops, HR-5578”

As the officer replied affirmatively, she left the hangar and headed to the control room, in the other side of the ship, taking her some minutes. When she finally got to the door, which was open, some other officers crossed her way to get out of the room, leaving it empty if not for the slender redhead figure dressed in black who seated close to some monitors. He looked at her, and the door closed.

“Greetings, Captain.” General Hux said, his eyes going from the monitors to Phasma and then back “I wondered how the rest of your day in the _Absolution_ had been, however, I have just seen right here in the monitors that you suffered an attempt on your life this morning.”

He was looking at the monitor screen that showed the exact moment when Cardinal had attacked Phasma in the training center.

“I wouldn’t call it an attempt, sir.” she said “It’s more like a humiliating proof of despair.”

Hux looked at the monitor again, a mocking smile on his face.

“We could have put him through firing squad for betraying the First Order like that, but I think you preferred to finish him yourself.”

“Certainly.” Phasma answered coldly. Firing squad would be a good one too, she thought, but getting Cardinal killed with the weapon he used to try to murder her was a different kind of satisfaction.

“I’m sorry to tell you that he might have made it, still.” said the general, turning another monitor to Phasma. This one had the images of Cardinal already fallen, but someone seemed to be talking to him. Hux turned to the Captain again “She stole a ship from the _Absolution_ and took him with her. Captain Cardinal’s men were unable to say for sure who she is or why she was here, but it seems like he’d been interrogating her for his own purposes.”

Phasma remembered Cardinal talking to her before the fight. So that’s how he had discovered her story; he’d taken the intel from that woman.

It was surprising what one was capable of to put down an enemy.

“Believe me, sir, he’s most likely dead by now.” the Captain assured. She knew well what knife was that, and also that Hux wouldn’t mind to ask her why she was so certain “But if you wish, I can order my men to find him so that we can be sure.”

“Oh no, Captain, there is no need.” Hux replied, as she expected “It was all better this way, the younger recruits will never know there was a traitor among us. And I’m personally glad he’s gone. He was the last living memory of my father.”

Phasma kept quiet at this one. Hux quickly left the monitors aside and looked at her.

“Oh, sorry Captain. I shouldn’t have mentioned him.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Phasma answered right away.

“Talking? Did you hear me saying anything? I don’t remember having opened my mouth.” said Hux. The Captain smiled behind her armor.

“Me neither. Good morning, sir.”

As Hux nodded his approval, Phasma opened the control room’s door and left to the hallway, the General quickly disappearing from her eyesight. He was right; Cardinal was the last person inside the First Order who was still loyal to Brendol Hux, and made them remember the old General had once been on command there.

Although she’d remember anyway. Armitage might have gotten rid of the memories of his father, but she wouldn’t get to do it. She knew well. There was no need of no one to remind her of when the big General’s suite belonged to Brendol Hux, the dark sheets of that bed, those dirty fingers crawling on her body, the nails scratching her skin with disgust.

And in the shower of her old quarters, among the hot water with which she tried to clean herself, on the floor there was a little red stain, that grew bigger and bigger as the blood dripped from inside her.


	2. The Watchers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Vi to take Siv, Torbi and Cardinal out of Parnassos. And while she analyzes the best options regarding what to do with the former Captain - and he tries to hide his concern with living a new life - Phasma runs the Finalizer uncontested. Or, at least, she thinks so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovelies! Ready for one more chapter? I hope you like it! I'm very anxious to share the rest of this story with you <3

**CHAPTER 2**

**\- THE WATCHERS -** ****  
  


ON PARNASSOS:

 

It was early morning when Cardinal woke up. Zee had explained the day before that there was a kind of simulation of the sun inside that place, so that the humans living there would feel as in their natural environments. He didn’t know how it worked for Siv and Torbi, but as for himself, he was used to simulated days, just like to not sleeping more than four hours per night. It was mandatory for stormtroopers that they slept the fewest possible for a person. After past three decades, it became a natural habit.

He’d spent the whole last day in the medbay with droids checking him up in case he had some side effect from the coma. Just precaution, as nothing happened at all. For this same reason, he hadn’t been given anything to eat, and was really hungry by the time the simulated sun shone and Vi, Siv and Torbi woke up. Finally coming out of the medbay, he found it strange to walk with his healing wound as the spy showed him the way to a refectory, just like the one she had described while telling him Phasma’s story.

Seating at one of the long tables, Cardinal noticed a droid coming towards him with a plate. There was some food on it.

“Now here’s something you’re going to like.” said Vi, standing in the corner of the table alongside Torbi, who had come in now. Cardinal remembered the spy telling him about people eating real food outside the First Order. She was right about something then; he didn’t even know how it tasted.

The droid gave him cutlery to eat, and he got just a little at first, like he was hesitating somehow. However, when he finally tasted it, hesitation went away. Vi laughed out loud.

“It… It tastes so… Strong…” he said, the food still tasting funny in his mouth, but he actually liked it very much.

“Well, it actually _tastes_ like something.” Vi corrected, raising her eyebrows like she was saying _I told you so_. Cardinal didn’t pay much attention to her, however, as he was busy eating real food for the first time in his life “You’ll get to eat it at every meal from now on, isn’t that good?”

“You didn’t know food?” asked Torbi, smiling.

“Not like this.” Cardinal answered to the girl, trying to return her smile, which worked, because she came closer.

“How is it outside there? Among the stars?”

Cardinal noticed how Torbi was unworried and smooth. She seemed to look forward to see the galaxy outside those walls and that planet. Little did she know that it wasn’t pretty there. It was almost a crime to show the real world to such a pure child “It’s… It’s good, very good. A lot of things to do, places to know, friends to make. You’ll like it there.”

He barely knew what he was talking about, since he’d been committed to training, fighting and then ruling a ship since he was around ten. But his words made Torbi excited; she smiled more, looking at him while he ate with those innocent eyes.

For a moment, he wished life wouldn’t be so harsh to the girl like it had been to her mother.

Some minutes passed in silence, as Cardinal ate every piece of the food with pleasure, and Siv came to the refectory and walked towards her daughter, who was still staring at the former Captain.

“Why don’t you pick up your things, sweetheart?” said the mother. Torbi smiled at her too, and left the refectory quickly. They could hear her talking to some droids in the hallways, but her voice soon faded. Siv then seated “I’m sorry about Torbi, she’s… Very curious. Although the droids have shown her everything they could about life in the galaxy, including male humans, she’d never seen a living one.”

Siv seemed worried, unlike her child. What she said, however, made Cardinal notice a small detail: Vi had mentioned that the Scyre’s language had its peculiarities, but Siv talked just like everyone else in the galaxy, and so did Torbi.

“The droids told you about life outside Parnassos?” he asked. Siv nodded.

“They taught us everything they knew. Language, the systems, planets…” as she talked, something started to mix with her voice. It seemed a lot like sorrow “Torbi grew up knowing about all of that. She always wanted to see the rest of the galaxy. Guess her time has come, right?”

She was looking at Vi. “It will be alright, Siv. I know someone who will help you. You and Torbi will have a chance to leave it all behind.” Siv looked away, then, but nodded. Cardinal had finished eating, and Vi noticed it “Well, let’s go. We have a long trip.”

Siv got up from her chair, and so did Cardinal. After that, he patiently waited that they finished picking up their things, as he had nothing to carry – his armor must be thrown away somewhere, as he didn’t need it anymore, and he didn’t even know if he wanted to ever see it again – and Vi made some adjustments in the ship landed outside. Like she had described in the _Absolution_ , grey sand spread everywhere when the big door opened, and Zee and the other droids kept on watching as the spy came in and out, and, finally, Torbi and Siv brought their little baggage.

“Come on, let’s see the stars!” the child said to the droids. Cardinal was close to the door when she did, and noticed what she meant right away. Siv and Vi seemed to do the same, but they didn’t interfere in Torbi’s and Zee’s eye-contact.

“I’m afraid this is where our stories set apart, creator Torbi.” said the white droid. It was obvious for the three of them, and for the droids, but not for the little girl. She had to find it out now, however.

“You’re not coming with us?” Torbi asked. Zee looked at her with his mechanical eyes.

“We have fulfilled our duty towards you and your mother.” he replied “Now we must stay and wait for other creators that will come in need of our help.”

Torbi was innocent, indeed, but she was no fool. She knew what that meant, and did not say anything else. Cardinal thought she was about to turn around, but, before that, she ran towards Zee and hugged him.

Vi and Siv were watching her, but Cardinal looked away. He wondered, for a moment, how someone could be so attached to a droid, even a child. She was being rescued and her life would be much better from now on. It seemed unpractical to him. But well, maybe he just didn’t know how it was like.

When the First Order had rescued him from Jakku, he didn’t have anything left to miss.

Torbi ran to her mother.

“Thank you, Zee. For everything.” said Siv. The droid waved, happily, somehow, when the four of them crossed the door and went to the ship. Vi went straight to the pilot’s seat.

“Stay in the back, Siv, and try not to move too much during departure, or you’ll make yourself sick.” she instructed “I’ll be here if anything happens, okay?”

Siv nodded and headed to the back of the little ship. Cardinal seated in the copilot’s place.

“Where are you taking them?”

“Kuat. I know someone there who can take care of them until they’re stablished. I told her I’d take them there, I just… Took a little longer than I expected.”

She rolled her eyes. Cardinal had heard of Kuat, a shipbuilding and industrial planet on the Kuat system. It was known for having plenty of work, and a calm life, since the Empire had ended.

“You did well on not telling Torbi the truth.” the spy said. Cardinal turned to her “The same regards Siv. She knows how much Phasma can kill, but it’s better for her not to know about everything that happened in the _Absolution_.”

Cardinal knew she wasn’t talking only about him trying to kill Phasma and her returning it, but didn’t say anything. Vi then put her hands on the ship’s controls and, finally, took off.

 

* * *

 

ON THE _FINALIZER_ :

 

The main thing Phasma didn’t like about windows was that they were a two-way street. You could see through them, but you’d be seen as well. That was the reason for her to order that the glasses of her suite were in fact mirrors – anyone outside would see just his own reflection, but she could see through them.

The simulated day had barely started inside the First Order ship, but the training center was fully functioning, troopers all around it working on their daily exercises on the officers’ command, practicing blaster-shooting on the targets on the high grey wall, everything reflected on the three long mirror that were set on the upper floor.

She was seated at a white marble stand that was carefully placed aside her bathtub, which was built as a vat inside the floor, covered by porcelain. Sometimes she felt like she was buried on the ground while bathing, but it was always ironic to come up again and seat on the marble, like she could play death. On that position, she could watch the trainings precisely, so she used to spend some time there before going down to the training center.

Phasma enjoyed watching her recruits live and color, without the need of cameras, and without them seeing her do so.

Getting up from the marble, she discarded the towel she was using to dry herself and opened the bathtub’s drain so that the water would go away. She then slid the black pieces of cloth that stood between her body and the chrome, and finally put on her armor, finishing the placing with her helmet and cape. For last, she got her blaster.

It was a ritual she repeated every day before leaving her suite.

The hallways of the _Finalizer_ were always bustling some meters away from her quarters. As she walked through three of them, turned to her right and crossed a bridge, all kind of staff started to show up on the way and greet her, rarely getting an answer, since she was focused on following her ordinary path to meet the officers on the hall on other side of the bridge, which she did in a few minutes.

“Good morning, Captain.” HR-5578 said. He was always the first to say the greetings, as her immediate subordinate, generally the one who received her when coming back from other ships, like the last time she’d returned from the _Absolution_.

“Good morning, officers.” it was all Phasma regularly said. After that, as they walked to the training center, she demanded the daily report on the recruits’ performance. The order for that depended on what had happened the previous day. That morning, she started by their shooting practice “Has their aiming improved?”

“Most of them hit the targets by now.” answered HR-5578 “TT-7595 was taking care of the exceptions.”

“I would mention DU-4679, TY-0039 and RR-5103 as our worst worries at the moment.” TT-7595 completed “I carefully watched the training yesterday, close look at FN-2187, his ability with blasters has overcome most of the other recruits.”

Phasma knew that well. Since she’d become Captain, about nine years ago, she could count on her fingers the times she’d forgotten a recruit’s number, and more than that, his or hers skills and weak spots. Her five officers were the best example; HR-5578 had been excellent since his first training day in the _Finalizer_ , and had quickly ascended among the other troopers, coming to the rank of first-officer only two years after that. VN-3406 didn’t seem very promising in the beginning, but after his fast work on shooting down the defiant villagers on Sullust on that almost-failed mission, she’d decided to promote him. Something very close to that had happened to KO-6609 and TT-7595, one before and the other after that mission. All of them had been there for plenty of years, excepting for NW-3877, the last to become an officer on that ship. He’d also been a great recruit, promoted only two years ago, after killing a possible traitor during a mission.

Yes, she remembered all the stories “What about the battalions?”

“NL-1244, from the ninth battalion, had an argument with QP-7805 on the accommodations yesterday, when they were at leave.” said VN-3406.

“Again?” Phasma asked.

“Yes.” replied the same officer “It didn’t last as long as the last time, however. It was much briefer.”

The Captain just kept on walking, making a reminder in her mind to think of NL-1244’s strange behavior later on, while KO-6609 started describing the battalions’ ranks in the last missions.

A few minutes after going down the main stairs, they got to the training center, where the officers spread around to give the recruits orders. Phasma did that herself, sometimes, but not today. That morning, she decided to just watch her future troopers.

The rest of the day was spent with having lunch in her suite, meeting with staff, watching some more trainings, dinner in her suite, again, and finished with a personal practice of combat and shooting, as the training center would be empty at that time. Even if some young recruits always hid behind the walls there to watch her.

She could have her personal training room, maybe with mirror-windows like her quarters, but when she was training, she didn’t feel in need of being out of everybody’s eyesight, so she just let the little future troopers watch her as much as they wanted, pretending not to know they were there. In fact, she liked to be seen in those moments.

 

* * *

 

ON THE KUAT SYSTEM:

 

The trip had been fast in hyperspace until that moment, and Cardinal was looking at the stars when Vi reached a communicator to make a call. The First Order’s ships had codes on their communicators, to prevent anyone from getting in touch with non-authorized people, but she didn’t seem to have any trouble decoding that one. After all he’d found she knew from inside the First Order, it had ceased to impress him.

“Who’s that?” a suspicious female voice came out of the speakers.

“Lom, it’s me.” said Vi. Cardinal didn’t plan to leave the stars aside, but his attention was caught when the voice came back, but sounding way different than before.

“Oh my goodness, Starling?! You’ve been gone for five days, everyone was freaking out about where you were!” it was almost a scream, and it made the former Captain turn to Vi as she talked again:

“It’s a long story, Lom, and I’d thank you if you could let General Organa know that I’m alive and well. I can’t contact her now, this communicator is from a First Order ship, I don’t know how long it will–”

“First Order ship? What the heck happened to you?!”

“I’ll tell you when I land there, I’m on my way. I’m taking you the girls I’d told you about.” the voice ceased for a second at that moment. Cardinal realized it was someone from the Resistance, but they weren’t going to the Resistance headquarters yet.

The other woman, Lom, still said something about the droid that was in Vi’s ship when she’d been captured in the _Absolution_ , but Vi didn’t give her much time to talk; she was hurrying to land on Kuat. Maybe worried about being caught by the First Order, or maybe something else, he didn’t know.

“Who was it?” Siv’s voice came from the back of the ship as the young woman approached. Torbi had been looking at the stars the whole trip. Unlike Cardinal, however, the stars meant hope for her.

“Her name’s Lom.” Vi replied “You and Torbi will be safe with her, she’ll help you build a new life on Kuat. It’s a calm planet, I think you know.” Siv quickly nodded “She won’t tell anyone about your story, so if you don’t want, no one’s ever going to know–”

“I don’t. It will be safer if I leave everything behind. For me and for Torbi.” Siv looked back with the corner of her eyes, to where Torbi was seated looking through a window. Vi just turned back to the ship’s controls.

“We’re ready to land.”

Siv went back to where her daughter was, while the ship started to go down and into Kuat’s atmosphere. Cardinal hadn’t noticed the planet was already that close.

The ship started to go down, and he remained seated, sometimes looking back, watching Siv and Torbi holding each other, somewhat scared of the ship moving to land.

It reminded him of his first time in a ship. He was around Torbi’s age.

When they finally came to the ground, all he could see was a small flat land with a house not far away. It wasn’t small or big, just regular, but seemed, indeed, a calm place to live in. While landing, he got to see shipbuilding factories some miles away, but still, you couldn’t hear their noise here. It all seemed empty at first, but as soon as Vi landed, a tall woman with black hair came from near the house, and was close to the ship’s door when Vi opened it and went out.

“We’ll come out now. Don’t be afraid.” she said. You could expect Siv and Torbi to hesitate, but they didn’t. Cardinal ended up alone in the ship for some seconds, and when he came out, he could see Lom, the woman Vi was talking to, looking at him with the corner of her eyes, but she didn’t say anything, because Vi didn’t give her the time “Let’s go inside.”

She and Lom turned away and walked to the house, leaving Cardinal with no choice but to follow, since even Siv and Torbi were doing the same. He didn’t know what Vi was planning to do, but it wasn’t like he had anywhere else to go.

The entrance of the house was a small room with some chairs and a table, stairs on the right side and a door on the left, leading to another room.

“I have a bedroom for the two of you. Go upstairs and turn left, you’ll find it open.” Lom instructed Siv and Torbi “We’ll take care of everything later. Work, surnames, where you’re going to live after here… Don’t worry, everything will be alright.”

Siv nodded and thanked, taking her child by the hand and walking towards the stairs.

“Wait a minute, okay?” Vi said, to Cardinal this time, and before he could answer, she and Lom crossed the door and disappeared into the new room. Or, at least, they thought they did.

But Cardinal had been trained to hear things from far away, too.

“You just told me about the girls, what’s happening?” Lom asked.

“It wasn’t planned.” said Vi. They were both almost whispering “Have you told General Organa about me?” Lom just answered affirmatively “Good. I need you to stay with the three of them just for today. I’ll fly to the Resistance to fix this, and I’ll be back by tomorrow. Find him a room and I don’t think he’ll get out of there, but just for precaution, put an armed droid for surveillance. You have one, don’t you?”

Again, Lom’s answer was affirmative.

“Starling… Who is he?”

“Trust me, it will be better if you don’t know for now.” Vi stopped for a second to sigh “But if everything goes right, he will be a big help for the Resistance.”

This time, Lom didn’t say anything. Some seconds later, both of them were back to the living room, where Cardinal was still standing.

“I have to go now, but I’ll be back by tomorrow.” the spy told the former captain “Lom will get you a room, you can stay here until I’m back.”

She didn’t give Cardinal much time to reply. But he wouldn’t even if he could. So he just nodded his head and Vi went outside. In a few minutes, the ship was flying again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, Cardinal is not very sure what's gonna happen to him from now on, and everything seems do be going well in the First Order, but... Is it, really?
> 
> First of all, thanks for reading, again! This story is very important to me, and I'm happy to share it with you guys! I must warn you, though, that I'll be traveling this whole month, so I'll probably post less often, but by July 23rd things will probably go back to normal, okay? I'll miss you all!
> 
> Oh, and don't hesitate on telling me what you think about this chapter! I'd love to hear your opinion!
> 
> May the Force be with you!
> 
> P.S.: Btw, you guys noticed my mention of Finn, right? Just a little reference for future works... Maybe, lol :D


	3. The Old And The New

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vi finally goes back to the Resistance, where she receives a new - and certainly non-expected - mission. Meanwhile, problems arise in the Finalizer, forcing Phasma to face memories she'd kept away for a very long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, look who's back! Just arrived yesterday from Florida, and WOW, I had an amazing time at Disney World! Unfortunatelly, I couldn't post while I was there, but now that I returned to Brazil, here's chapter 3! I hope you like it!

**CHAPTER 3**

**\- THE OLD AND THE NEW -**  


ON D’QAR:

 

It was night when Vi Moradi arrived at D’Qar. Landing the ship on the Resistance’s headquarters was such a relief, as she was kind of tired of flying for today. Since she’d arrived at Parnassos after escaping the First Order, she’d been dealing with some cramps in her belly, probably overintense period pains, since the bleeding soon came too. It wasn’t time, but, well, she’d been through a lot of tension. Maybe her body was just compensating it. And she was used to holding pain to herself, so she didn’t even ask the medical droids for help. She’d been worse than that, after all.

The main hangar was lighted up as usual, with some people walking down there, but they noticed the ship as soon as it crossed the atmosphere. When Vi opened the door, she spotted a tall man in orange clothes coming towards her, his dark hair waving as he did.

“Starling, we were afraid you were never coming back!” he said, like he was celebrating, in his usual extrovert tone.

“Well, I did, Poe.” Vi joked, getting out of the ship. Before she could talk again, the round droid BB-8 appeared behind Poe Dameron, beeping to her. He was asking about Gigi “She’s gone, BB-8. I’m sorry.”

The little droid lowered his head to hear that. Vi felt like doing the same. She missed Gigi, of course, but was trying not to think about it.

“We heard you were caught, but no one has details.” said Poe.

“It’s a long story that General Organa must be told.” Vi replied, and Poe just nodded.

“She’s waiting for you.”

This time, Vi was the one to nod. She and the pilot had been introduced not long ago, but she knew she could trust him. He was the best pilot and Commander the Resistance had had so far, and Leia trusted him too. Not to mention that he was a pleasing company.

As Vi entered the base, some eyes were instantly driven to her. Well, she was still with bandages and those strange clothes, people would obviously want to take a look. She didn’t blame them.

Leia awaited in a meeting room, but she wasn’t alone; seated alongside her were Admiral Ackbar and vice-Admiral Holdo. Vi hadn’t seen them for quite a while, but she actually expected to see them now, since Leia had sent her in a mission that would reveal the past of a powerful figure of the First Order. Anyone with a high rank in the Resistance should know about it.

Well, they’d end up knowing more than they were expecting to.

“You have no idea how relieved we all are to see you again.” Leia said, as soon as Vi closed the door and seated in front of her. The general’s voice was gentle as usual, but the spy noticed she was somewhat anxious.

“After the third day passed, we considered assuming you were dead.” Admiral Ackbar completed. Vice-Admiral Holdo was holding her pinkish hair worriedly, but nodded her agreement.

“Well, I’m alive, healthy and ready to work.” Vi smiled to say, as to relax the meeting. Leia smiled back.

“Healthy with bandages.” she sighed “When Lom told me you were coming in a First Order ship, we were sure you’d been caught… If you want to see Dr. Riatt and Yana before talking to us–”

“No, there’s no need.” said Vi. If she hadn’t been to the medbay on Parnassos, she’d surely want to see Dr. Riatt. He and the young nurse Yana had been working for the Resistance for years now, and she knew and trusted both of them, but it was pointless to waste time with that now “My wounds have been treated already. I’ll tell you all about it too.”

“First tell us about your mission.” asked vice-Admiral Holdo “General Organa told us you got the intel you were sent to look for.”

Vi slowly nodded “Indeed. I will tell you all I found out.” General and Admirals payed full attention to her. She just ignored a cramp coming in her body and started talking.

The next fifteen or twenty minutes passed with her telling Phasma’s story as she’d heard it from Siv. Not with all the emotion from when she’d told Cardinal, since now she didn't have to keep herself alive the longest she could, but she didn't hold details. The more the Resistance knew about everything and everyone in the First Order, the better.

That was exactly where Cardinal could help them now.

“Siv and her daughter are with Lom now, General, wasn't that what you said?” vice-Admiral Holdo asked Leia, who nodded soon after “Maybe we could bring her here, she could give us more–”

“I'm sorry, vice-Admiral, but I don't think it's a good idea.” Vi interrupted “Siv only wants to forget what she's been through and live a peaceful life with her daughter, that's why I trusted her to Lom. She will arrange everything they need to leave all of that behind.”

Again, Leia nodded, serious, but, as always, kind “You were caught while accomplishing my last order. Where were you taken to? What happened?”

Vi took a deep breath “My ship was taken inside the _Absolution_. I was interrogated by Captain Cardinal himself.” she saw the worried way the three of the authorities looked at her now, and decided it was better not to let them talk yet, before the real big deal “But he did not ask anything about the Resistance. He wanted my intel on Captain Phasma.”

They didn't understand that. She expected it.

“But why would he want that?” asked Admiral Ackbar “And I'm sure General Hux wouldn't allow him to–”

“General Hux didn't know I was there. It was all off-records.”

Vi wasn't exactly anxious to tell this part of the story; she’d rather just telling them she’d been interrogated and brought her interrogator with her when she’d escaped, but that wouldn't make sense to anyone at all. Even if her memories about it were bittersweet, to say at least, she knew there was no way, so she just told them everything. From the moment she’d been brought to that room to when Cardinal had let her go, Leia and vice-Admiral Holdo kept on looking at each other many times, like they were hearing an impossible story, and Admiral Ackbar seemed unable to talk. At least until Vi was finished.

“This means they're fighting against each other.” said the alien Admiral “It makes the First Order weaker, it's a flaw in their military structure–”

“They're not fighting. Not anymore.” Vi corrected. Now it was time “Captain Cardinal tried to kill Captain Phasma after he let me go, with the poisoned dagger I gave him. But he couldn't win her.”

The spy looked at Leia. Right now, she seemed confused. Or better: suspicious.

“How do you know about that?” the General asked.

“I rescued him before he died. He's with Siv and Torbi at Lom’s house.”

She didn't know Admiral Ackbar and vice-Admiral Holdo well, but she did know Leia’s life story. For many reasons, she'd always thought she was hard to impress, let alone to shock.

Well. She'd got to shock her now.

“You did what, Starling?” it wasn't the General to inquire, but vice-Admiral Holdo.

“Have you lost your mind?” asked Admiral Ackbar “You put the Resistance in danger!”

“Trust me, Admiral Ackbar, I wasn't out my mind, neither put the Resistance in danger.” Vi explained “But during my interrogation I couldn’t help but noticing that Captain Cardinal didn’t want to put down Captain Phasma for ambition. I thought it was revenge at first, but I was wrong at that too.” she took a breath before continuing “He _believed_ the First Order. He thinks Brendol Hux saved him, so he dedicated his life to following his orders. But the old Hux is gone, and the rest of the First Order betrayed Captain Cardinal. He’s got nothing left. He would have died if I haven’t saved him.”

“And that makes you think he’d be thankful enough to leave all he’s ever lived for behind? You think you turned him?” inquired vice-Admiral Holdo “It all happened in the blink of an eye.”

“It might have, yes.” replied Vi “But I know a lost person when I see one. Everything he’s ever believed in is gone. He’s got nowhere to go, he doesn’t know life outside the _Absolution_ , so there’s nothing he can do… Except joining the Resistance. Think of all he knows, intel from inside the First Order right in our hands, and it will take long for them to suspect that we have it, since they think he’s dead.”

Admiral Ackbar sighed in a worried way “You can’t assume he’ll be loyal to us due to his lack of options.” vice-Admiral Holdo nodded at that.

“No sir, I can’t.” Vi said “But I can assume that a man of honor will. And he’s one. If he wasn’t, maybe… Maybe I wouldn’t be talking to you now.”

She stared at the three of them. Vice-Admiral Holdo and Admiral Ackbar seemed hesitant, even if ready to talk back, but Leia was quiet. That was what Vi wanted; the General would trust her.

“You’ve taken a great risk, Starling, on not letting me know about that before bringing Captain Cardinal to Lom’s house.” she finally considered, calmly “But sometimes risks must be taken.”

Vi smiled briefly while breathing out at that moment. She knew she could count on Leia’s judgement.

“General, I must insist that this is dangerous…” vice-Admiral Holdo softly said, looking at Leia.

“I know, vice-Admiral Holdo, but it can be a great opportunity if we take careful steps regards it.” she looked at Vi, then “You may be right at what you say, Starling, but you may be wrong, too. We need to be sure that Captain Cardinal is indeed willing to help the Resistance before bringing him here, and only time and careful surveillance can prove that.” Leia stopped for a second, but kept on staring at Vi, with her mix of seriousness and kindness, in a way that the spy quickly realized what she was talking about “He needs to be carefully watched, in the search of any sign that he’s lying and this is a trap. I know that it might be uncomfortable for you, to say at least, but you’re one of our best spies, you know that, and the two of you already had contact. As you said, you saved his life. He’ll probably be less guarded with you than with any other.”

Once again, Vi breathed deeply before saying anything. This gave her time to consider her options; she could refuse it, of course. Leia would never force her to be in the same house with her torturer, but the thing was that the general was right; Cardinal wouldn’t trust someone he’d never seen, mainly someone involved with the Resistance. Not that he trusted her, but she could work that out. Or at least create an environment comfortable enough for him to put his guards down and let out signs of ulterior motives, although she truly didn’t believe they existed.

“It’s alright to me, General.” the spy finally answered. This time, Leia was the one to smile at her.

“You will send me reports on him every day. I want to know every detail about how he acts, what he does, what he talks about… Three months. After that, if you haven’t noticed anything that can mean us harm, you’ll have my permission to bring him here, and we’ll listen to what he has to say.”

Vi nodded, getting up from her chair. That new mission was… Weird. But well, she was willing to help the Resistance in any way she could. It’d been like that since the beginning. She would handle it “If this is all, I think I better take some rest to prepare to leave tomorrow. You know where to find me if you need me.”

“I do. And I also trust you to just tell someone about all of this if it’s truly necessary.” said Leia “Thank you, Starling.”

Both Admirals said goodbye some seconds later, and then got back on talking to Leia as Vi walked out of the room. There was a place in the headquarters for her to sleep, and she was heading to it when Poe crossed her way again, making her smile.

“You know I can’t tell what she said.” the spy joked, although it was not necessarily a lie.

“You can’t tell me what General Organa said, that’s right, but you can tell me what happened to you, after all.” reasoned Poe. Like Vi didn’t know that was what he wanted all the time.

“Went out on my mission, got captured… And interrogated.”

“For real?” Poe looked at her worriedly as well “Are you okay?”

“Pretty much.” Vi shrugged “I handled it well.”

“But what did they want?” asked the pilot.

“Now that’s confidential. But trust me, you’ll know soon enough.” both laughed at that. Vi knew Poe wouldn’t insist, so she could play around with it a little. In a short time, however, everyone would be anxious to know what was going on, but, well, she wouldn’t be there to see it.

* * *

 ON THE _FINALIZER_ :

 

That night on the _Finalizer_ would be different from most others. Phasma had been called for a meeting with General Hux after her dinner, which she was finishing now. She always ate alone in her quarters, since she’d got there. The quarters were not the same back then, but she’d always had permission to keep private the moments in which she had to remove her helmet. Maybe she should have been suspicious of all privileges she was gaining from the start.

“Pointless to think about it.” she reminded herself as she left her chair and put the empty tray and plate on the trash compartment on the wall. When she pressed the button, its lower part opened and the trash fell down through a tunnel. The fastest way to send it to the compacter.

There used to be no button to lock the compartment, only the tunnel to the compacter, but Brendol Hux had found it dangerous, because one could enter the room through there, as hard as that might seem. He was precautious, she had to give him that. Her suite had another opening, close to the roof, that lead to air tubes and the upper part of the ship’s maintenance floor, some kind of old emergency route that wasn’t used anymore, unless in very serious and sudden emergencies. But it only opened from the inside of the room, so it was safe too, no wonder why all high patents had one in their quarters.

It would indeed keep them safe, unless they let the danger come in through the quarters’ door.

She laughed at that.

The way to the main meeting room was short, so it didn’t take her long to get there. However, the door was closed, with only a protocol droid in front of it “Good evening, Captain. General Hux sends his apologies for the inconvenient, but he does not feel well, and asks you to meet him and the officers in the hall of his quarters.”

Phasma kept on looking at the droid for some seconds. He seemed to have nothing left to say, so she just turned around and made her way to the General’s suite.

That way, she knew very well. Even not having gone there for nine years, the memories of her walking to Brendol Hux’s suite were clear as water in her mind, since she’d done that so many times. More times than she could count in her fingers.

Getting to the hall, the first thing she saw wasn’t the chairs in which Hux and the officers seated, but the metallic door, with the droid in front of it. He’d been there in all of those nights, she remembered. When she looked at the door, a flash of the reflection she’d seen back then came to her mind, but she didn’t let it in; what mattered was the reflection she saw now.

“Thank you for joining us, Captain.” Hux said, as Phasma seated in an empty chair. He seemed, indeed, a little bit off “I called you all here tonight to let you know that I will fly to the _Supremacy_ tomorrow morning, due to a failure in the ship’s systems I’ve just been warned about. Captain Phasma, the _Finalizer_ is back to your command.” he took a breath before continuing to talk, like he was sick and trying to hide it “I was informed that the officer responsible for the _Supremacy’s_ systems was killed in action recently, so I’ll take VN-3406 with me until someone is found to replace the fallen officer. I hope this won’t cause you any trouble, Captain.”

“Not at all, sir.” Phasma replied. Besides being one of her officers, VN-3406 was the trooper responsible for the systems and controls of the _Finalizer_ , generally dealing with the files and data from the ship. NW-3877 was learning how to do it, to follow his steps later on “Take NW-3877 with you as well, General. Maybe he can learn better this way, and help VN-3406 to solve whatever happened in the _Supremacy_. It will be a faster service, I suppose.”

Hux nodded “I will accept your suggestion. VN-3406, NW-3877, meet me in the hangar in the morning. The rest of you, organize my departure. This will be all for tonight. You stay, Captain.”

Phasma was expecting Hux to ask her to stay. He probably imagined he had questions that couldn’t be asked in front of the officers. However, when they left, he talked first, and not about what she thought he would:

“I must say I’m sorry for making you come here. It mustn’t be easy for you, I imagine.”

She indeed didn’t expect him to say that. They had agreed not to ever talk about that subject, ever since Brendol Hux had died, like that dark secret had died with him. It would have been safer if no one else knew besides her, but she wouldn’t have got to kill the old Hux without Armitage’s help, and it wasn’t exactly her choice that he came to know what was happening.

 _“I’m sorry about what my father did last night. I truly am.”_ he’d said, a little more than twelve hours after she’d left his father’s suite. She tried to deny it, of course, but then she remembered the door was not locked. He could have seen it. Brendol was too distracted with his pleasure to notice, and she with holding back her pain.

For a moment, she’d just kept quiet listening to him talk, with a grin voice, in her head thoughts about whether killing him, running away or doing any other stupidity, because she felt threatened by his knowledge. No one could know about that. _No one_. At least until he talked again.

_“I know my father, so I’ll say it straight to your face: you will be raped. More than once. He’s got you under his control now, so he’ll do whatever he likes. I know all about that… And trust me; you’d be wise not to resist.”_

Phasma’s eyes went straight to Armitage, although he couldn’t see that, because of the helmet in her head. She felt something there. Not trust or empathy, but similarity, in his intentions.

Exactly what she had thought the night before.

 _“So it means that if you were a woman, you wouldn’t resist? You’d let him do what he wanted?”_ she asked.

Armitage’s answer was what she already knew for sure, and had already followed the night before _“If you fight, he will kill you. Not kill you with his own hands, no; but anyway, you’ll die, or you’ll be thrown back in that hellish planet where he found you. Do you understand?”_

By the words he’d said in that moment, she knew he’d help her. He knew his father well enough to want to put him down too.

The Captain looked at him now, through her chromed helmet, and calmly said “It’s as easy as to be anywhere in this ship, sir.”

“Are you sure?” Hux asked. Phasma did not reply, so the General quickly understood she wouldn’t talk about that.

“How did GF-0726 die?” was what the Captain questioned, instead. Phasma remembered that trooper, she’d been a good one through all the time she’d been in the _Finalizer._

“I’m not sure. They said she was shot, but nobody knows by who.” replied Hux “The fact is that she’s dead. But don’t worry, I won’t take VN-3406 away forever. GF-0762 was training a trooper to replace her as well, he’s just not experienced enough to solve this specific problem, I’m afraid.”

“What kind of problem is this?”

“A failure in the main system. I don’t know exactly what, but it must be solved anyway. The staff in the _Supremacy_ couldn’t deal with that properly, and I don’t want to upset Supreme Leader Snoke, or Kylo Ren.”

He seemed annoyed to talk about that, but she didn’t mind to think about it. She knew how he was regards Kylo Ren, after all. Instead, something else came to her mind:

“Are you feeling any better, sir? What was afflicting you?”

Hux seemed a bit surprised to hear that “Oh, kind of you to ask, Captain. I started feeling sick after my dinner. Must have been something I ate. I’ll blame it on the cookers.”

He laughed a little. It was so ironic to hear him talking about people who worked in the kitchen.

“Surely.” said Phasma “Well, best regards for your health. Goodnight, General.”

“Goodnight, Captain.” she heard Hux’s voice when she turned to leave the hall.

* * *

 ON KUAT:

 

Cardinal had spent the rest of the previous day inside a small bedroom that the young woman Lom had allowed him to use. It was just a little bigger than his quarters on the _Absolution_ , but besides the bathroom along, it had a window. That was new to him, looking through a hole and seeing land and nature outside it. His ship had windows in some parts, but all you could see out of them was space. Infinite darkness. Watching the sun go down and the night come was as confusing to him as what he felt inside.

Would he see that every day from now on? Probably. But what else would be waiting for him in a life outside the First Order? He didn’t even know how it was like.

He slept the regular four hours that night, in the soft bed that room had. It was cold in that planet, not much, but more than it had ever been in the _Absolution_. Those clothes didn’t really protect him, like his armor used to do. It was probably garbage in that station on Parnassos now. He barely saw himself without it, even though he didn’t mind to ask what has been done to it. He’d have to get used to that.

No one had called him the previous day, but that morning Lom knocked on the bedroom’s door to say she’d made breakfast. Cardinal just went downstairs quietly, then, and seated with Lom, Siv and Torbi to eat. He tried not to seem amused with the taste again. Considering that the woman might not know who he was, it would seem suspicious. Whatever she’d prepared, it was sweet and soft. Nothing like the proteins he’d eat every day for breakfast for more than thirty years. No one talked much during breakfast, so it was quick, and then Lom went to another room with Siv, leaving him in the living room.

He walked around slowly, with his eyes focused on every corner of that place, which he’d barely had time to observe the previous day. It was very simple, yet there was some kind of beauty on it. Mainly on the pictures and mirrors on the walls, and some small sculptures upon tables. There were plants as well. In the First Order, all of that only existed on the General’s suite.

“You didn’t know decoration either?”

The childish voice made Cardinal turn around, and he then saw Torbi looking at him, but also at the walls and art around the room “No, I did know it.” he answered “But we didn’t have much of it in the First Order. At least not everywhere.”

Torbi nodded softly. Curiosity was still in her smiley eyes “Were you born there? In the First Order?”

“Oh, no, I… I was born in Jakku. You know Jakku, right?”

“Yes, Zee told me about this planet.” answered Torbi, suddenly lowering her head “He said it’s bad there… I’m sorry about it…”

Cardinal looked down for a moment as well “It is, indeed, but don’t worry.”

“Do you have a mother?”

That question was unexpected. Cardinal got back on looking at Torbi, and this time her curiosity was sadder, somehow. He had told no one about his mother, not ever. Not even to his closest fellows in the First Order. Brendol Hux was the only one who knew his story, and yet some details hadn’t been told, because they simply didn’t concern the old General.

The death of his mother was one of those things.

 _“Promise me you’ll survive, Archex.”_ were the last words of young Allanya, as everyone called her, except for him. He just called her _mother_. Cardinal knew one thing for sure that day: he had to fulfill his mother’s last wish; he had to survive.

Well. He had, indeed, survived.

“I had. She died.” Cardinal replied, cold on the inside, but trying to sound soft not to scare Torbi. He used to be very direct with his subordinates in the First Order, but they were mostly kids, so he knew how to do it without scaring them too much, when there was no need of it.

Torbi didn't get scared; instead, she looked at him with those greenish eyes seeming somewhat sad, but not like she felt pity. She was sorry, but there was affection in her look. She was so young, yet mature enough to understand death. More than that: to feel empathy for someone she didn't even know because of it.

He didn't remember the last time he'd seen that look in a child. Maybe never. Stormtroopers were not allowed to mourn, there was no time for it.

It was some seconds after that, before Torbi could talk, that they heard a ship landing outside the house. In the first instant, Cardinal feared it would be the First Order, but he soon remembered Vi saying that she'd be back the next day. Indeed, after some minutes, when Siv and Lom were already in the room again, the spy crossed the front door. She was wearing different clothes from when she'd left, very similar to when she'd been captured.

“Good morning, everyone.” she greeted.

“Were you flying again?” Torbi asked, back to seeming cheerful. She had loved to fly, apparently.

“Oh, I was!” Vi talked sweetly to the child “One day, maybe you will learn how to fly a ship too. Can you imagine that?”

Torbi seemed to be imagining at that very moment. Cardinal just watched Siv holding her child to let Lom and Vi talk, which they did outside the house, so he couldn't hear it this time. All he did was seat and wait for the two to come back some minutes later, while Siv and Torbi kept themselves distracted with their own conversation.

“I have to leave now, girls.” Vi announced. Torbi turned to her.

“Will we ever see you again?” she asked.

“Of course! I'll come back to visit you and your mother whenever I can, and maybe someday you can visit me too.” Vi replied “But now there are still some things to arrange. You're not the only ones who need a new life, after all.” she was looking at Cardinal at that moment. He knew she wouldn't leave him there. She had to take him to the Resistance, as she'd said inside the _Absolution_.

“Don't worry, I'll take care of them.” said Lom.

“I know you will.” Vi turned to Cardinal before continuing “Let's go, Cardinal, we have a lot to do.”

Well, it seemed like she’d already told Lom who he was. Vi said some more things to her fellow and then headed to the ship, and Cardinal followed, after quickly saying goodbye to Siv and Torbi. The girl child smiled at him when he left. No child in the First Order would still be that smiley at her age. It was a rare thing to see.

When both of them entered the Resistance ship and seated like they had done before getting to Lom’s house, Cardinal finally felt free to ask “So where are you taking me?”

“Coruscant.” replied Vi. The former captain looked at her, confused.

“The Resistance’s headquarters are in Coruscant, seriously?”

“Maybe, maybe they're not, it doesn't matter now, cause that's not where we’re going.” Vi said. Cardinal didn't reply immediately, making her continue “We're dealing with a lot of trouble now, many things happened recently, so I can't take you there now. You'll have to wait some time. Sorry about that, Emergency Brake.”

Cardinal noticed the way she spoke: she was being playful again – it seemed very usual, according to what he'd seen so far – but, this time, it seemed more like a way to disguise something. Most people wouldn't have noticed it, but he'd been Captain of the First Order for two decades, he knew how to read someone. Most of the time “So you'll leave me in Coruscant?”

Vi laughed “No, I'm going there too. You'll stay with me until you can go to the Resistance.”

Now that was what he'd been thinking of. First she said that the Resistance couldn't receive him now, due to some kind of trouble she hadn't really explained, and now she planned to keep him close until he could meet her fellows, and her boss. That could only mean one thing: she wanted to keep an eye on him before taking him to the Resistance, to be sure it wasn't a trap.

And she hadn't tried to hide it really. Those excuses were way too see-through to deceive him, she probably knew that, yet she didn't seem to mind.

“Where are we staying at on Coruscant?” Cardinal decided to play her game.

“In the house I share with my friends, Yuny and Lihanna. They're siblings.” Vi explained “They're with the Resistance as well, so you don't have to worry about hiding who you are.”

“How trustworthy are they?”

“Well, they know my real identity. Not everyone in the Resistance does, if that counts.” answered the spy. Cardinal didn't say anything at that. He was safe, that was true. No one outside the First Order had ever seen his face, as it was always behind his helmet, and if General Hux or cCaptain Phasma had any intention to hunt him down, they'd have it done by now.

For the record, he was officially dead.

None of them said anything in the rest of the trip, so silence took over the ship until they approached Coruscant. Cardinal hadn't been there before, since that planet was Republic’s, but he'd seen images of the big cities. Anyway, they seemed bigger from inside that ship.

Vi landed aside a small white house, in a region that seemed calm. Not as much as Lom's house, though. The former Captain wasn't sure what he preferred; a calm place must be better to live in, but he wasn't used to that. The _Absolution_ and the _Finalizer_ were both very noisy and agitated, to say at least.

“Home sweet home.” said Vi, unlocking her seatbelt and getting up. Cardinal, once again quiet, just did the same and followed her outside, where a man and a woman awaited.

Both had white skin and light-brown hair, and although she was taller than him, their facial features were very alike; delicate and soft, with light-green eyes.

“You've been gone for so long that we thought you were not coming back at all.” said the man, but he was more joking than worried. The woman aside him laughed “What's your name again? I think I forgot it.”

Vi walked to them “Vi Moradi, and you knew I would return.” she said, turning to the woman, then “Lihanna, you still can't control Yuny’s jokes? What kind of older sister are you?”

“I admit, I need your help on that.” replied Lihanna “I missed you.”

They smiled at each other, before Vi turned to Cardinal again “Well, as I told you this morning, this is Cardinal. He's staying with us until everything is back to normal.”

Cardinal watched Yuny and Lihanna wave and smile, like nothing a little bit unusual was happening there. He didn't know if they were faking it, but Vi had told them about him, he'd know that even if she hadn't said so. Anyway, what they were feeling regards his presence there was not his business. It was Vi’s choice – or order to comply – to keep watching him.

“Let's come in. I'm hungry and you must be too.” the spy told him “We’ll have plenty of time for introductions.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it seems like Cardinal's new life is about to start! And about Phasma's memories, I really enjoy developing her relationship with Armitage, since they it's barely showed in the movies (like both of them individually, and that's so sad), and we know what they've done together, so it's very cool to write them interacting. I don't ship them, not a chance, but it's an interesting relationship.
> 
> I hope you have enjoyed chapter 3! See you real soon, may the Force be with you all <3
> 
> P.S.: Yeah, the title was inspired by Game Of Thrones, if you're wondering ;)


	4. Words Unspoken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cardinal can't get used to his new life in Coruscant, and Vi is worried with the lack of news from her brother, Baako. Meanwhile, in the Finalizer, Phasma has a new problem to deal with: a traitor among her stormtroopers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sweeties! I'm sorry I took long to update, but I've been dealing with a lot of trouble in my life lately. I'm doing great, but I had to solve so many problems that I barely had time to write. Now I'm trying to get back to it. My problems won't stop me from updating my fanfiction, lol, but they might make me update them less often, though. Anyways, here's a new chapter, I hope you enjoy it!

**CHAPTER 4**

**\- WORDS UNSPOKEN -** ****  
  


ON THE _FINALIZER_ :

 

“Do I really need to ask?”

Brendol Hux’s voice echoed through the room, with that light as clear as a sun, the art in the walls and the big bed with soft grayish sheets, which was where she lay.

Phasma could see his face coming towards her, those eyes filled with desire, the smile ripping off his jaw, the right side mainly. The closer he got, the more she could feel his hands on her skin, crawling on it, the nails starting to scratch “I must tell you, it will hurt a little.”

She just took a breath, and looked deep into his eyes “No. It won’t.” it was her voice to echo now “Pain and fear can’t consume you if you don’t let them.” Brendol stopped right in time “You’re dead. I killed you. You can’t have my body anymore.” he was paralyzed now, and she finally ordered “Get out of my head.”

The Captain opened her eyes and her suite’s roof appeared in front of her, lighted as it always was in the morning. She got up from her bed and started her daily routine.

General Hux had left some days ago. She’d heard from him that the problems in the _Supremacy_ were in their way to be solved, although it would still take some time. More things must have come up, she thought to herself as she walked through the three hallways and prepared to turn right when a trooper came to her.

“Problems in the bridge, Captain.” he said.

“What problem?”

“Gas leaking, we had to isolate the surroundings. The officers have been warned, they’re waiting on the meeting rooms’ hallway downstairs.” the trooper saluted when Phasma changed her way and went down the back stairs, which leaded to the meeting rooms’ hallway where her three officers left in the _Finalizer_ awaited. They’d have to walk some more to get to the training center, but well, they all knew the way.

“There’s been an improvement in the recruits’ combat abilities in the last days. The young still fall easily, but the older ones are learning to resist.” HR-5578, the first-officer, kept on saying as they walked.

“Get harder on the young ones. Resisting is the most primal ability, I will have no waste of time in their learning of it.” Phasma ordered.

“Yes, Captain.”

HR-5578 and KO-6609 started talking about the battalions, while TT-7595 gave information on the latest missions, and Phasma was listening to all the reports when she heard a strange noise nearby. She kept on walking and it got louder. It seemed like a breath, a fast breath, but you could hear a voice on it, even if very low… _Two voices_ , actually.

Phasma ordered the troopers to stop talking and when they got silent, with the attentive ears she’d always had, she found where the growing noise was coming from.

The hallways where they were now were no longer the meeting rooms’; as they approached the training center, some smaller hallways, and more hidden and empty, started to appear in the sides of the main one, many bifurcations that would lead to less important places. However, one of those didn’t seem to be empty, since the voices and breaths were coming from there. Phasma walked towards the small hallway. The way those breaths sounded was synchronized, both fast and loud, but completing each other, and the voices were hoarse, high, and she noticed now that one was female, and the other, male. The Captain went inside the hallways, and the officers followed her, until she spotted a girl laying against the wall, with her eyes closed and head stretching back because of the boy who had his lips in her neck, and held her tight with his bare hands. Both were almost nude and sweating with pleasure, and some parts of stormtrooper’s armors were on the floor near them.

The girl saw the Captain first, of course.

“Stop, stop!” she hissed to her partner, her eyes filled with shock, and when the boy turned around, his got even worse.

“LB-4537, DV-6790.” Phasma coldly called girl and boy, respectively, both tanned with curly hair.

“We can explain this, Captain–” the boy was silly enough to try to say.

“Take them to reconditioning chambers.” ordered Phasma, turning her back on the two young troopers, and talking to her officers before leaving “Meet me in the training center right after.”

“Yes, Captain.”

She just walked out of that hallway and resumed her route. The officers would take care of those two. She had no time for such trivialities.

* * *

 

ON CORUSCANT:

 

The nights were long in Coruscant at that time of the season, but Cardinal kept on sleeping his ordinary four hours, spending a lot of time awake in the dark in the end. The bedroom he’d been given was where he stayed whenever he could, although it wasn't most of the day. He preferred to be alone now. Not that he wasn't kind of lonely in the _Absolution_ , but there he had a function to fulfill. Now, he had none.

He'd been there for little more than three weeks, and his routine was basically waiting for the others to wake up, eating and helping Yuny in some things he needed. He and his sister, Lihanna, were both Resistance pilots, they'd said. They were very easy-going, it seemed; didn't feel worried about the fact that an ex-captain of the First Order was now living in their house, as Vi didn't seem either, but he knew her better than to believe she would.

She spent most of the time in the house as well, knitting aside Lihanna, normally, as it looked like they were very close. Cardinal knew Vi was watching him all the time, though she was very good at not letting anyone notice it, as spies should be. And Captains in the First Order should be able to notice if they or their superiors were being watched. Cardinal could see the intentions of the three who now lived alongside him, but he hadn't been able to see Phasma’s intention when she'd conspired to murder Brendol Hux.

It weighted on his conscience, still. Even when you were the best, there was always someone better yet to come.

That morning, they were having breakfast a little bit earlier, which was a relief to Cardinal, since he didn't have to wait too much time doing nothing in his room. He was seated at the table, wearing some of the clothes he’d been given – that probably came from the Resistance as well –, while Vi was seating in front of him at the table and Lihanna was at her side while Yuny cooked and brought them food.

“You'll be the one to cook the next time, Lihanna, you have no idea how sleepy I am.” he said.

“Well, as we woke up earlier because you have more than six ships to fix today, it's fair that you're the one to cook this morning.” Lihanna rebuked. Besides being a pilot, Yuny fixed and adjusted ships as well, and this was his job while he was not at the Resistance. Cardinal was helping him at that, with the little knowledge he had about ships, learned in the First Order “And just for you to know, I'm tired as well.”

“You two sleepyheads.” Vi mocked. Her friend laughed as Yuny rolled his eyes, and Cardinal kept quiet until Lihanna turned to him.

“You don't look tired, Cardinal.” she said, polite like he assumed she used to be, based on what he'd seen of her so far “You're always awake when we call you for breakfast, you don't sleep much, do you?”

“Well, when you sleep four hours per night for over thirty years, it becomes a habit.” Cardinal replied.

“Four hours? This is so cruel…” sighed Lihanna.

“It's not cruel, it's _necessary_.” Cardinal corrected “The less we need to sleep, the easier it will be for us to wake up in the middle of the night in case there’s an attack, or during a mission–”

“A military mind.” Vi commented suddenly. Cardinal didn't keep on talking after that, because, indeed, everyone in the First Order had a military mind.

“Even captains are not allowed to sleep?” asked Yuny, coming towards the table and seating.

“If you're asking about me, I slept the same the other stormtroopers did.” answered Cardinal “Captain Phasma, on the other hand, I have no idea how much she slept after she got her rank. Rules were different to her. Everything was different to her, actually.”

Yuny slowly nodded “You really hate her, don't you?”

Cardinal didn't reply to this immediately. In fact, he didn't want to talk about that ever again “Honestly? Yes.”

He didn't say much after that. Luckily, Yuny and Lihanna seemed to notice he had no intention of continuing that subject. Vi, however, didn't even get into it. She seemed worried about something else now.

She didn't let it show, though. Cardinal just left that aside and kept on eating, almost used to the food, he could say, but it was the only thing he was getting used to at all. Yuny and Lihanna talked about their tasks for that day, what they wanted to do later on, and even if they tried to include him on every conversation, he couldn’t connect to any of that. He didn’t know if he wanted to. That life was so unusual to him that he felt like he missed the First Order, sometimes.

Right before he remembered it’d been all a lie.

Yuny left right after breakfast, as he had work to do, but he didn’t need Cardinal’s help so early this time. Lihanna ended up doing the same, so the former Captain just walked out of the room and headed to his bedroom, which was where he planned to stay until someone called him for something. However, he heard Vi’s voice before he could go in:

“Hey” she called, walking towards him on the hallway. He stopped and turned to her “I’m sorry that Yuny keeps on asking questions, don’t get him wrong, he–”

“It’s okay.” Cardinal interrupted, sounding the most natural he could not to let Vi see he was running off that topic. Perhaps she indeed didn’t see it, but still she surprised him to say:

 “I know you're kind of bored, Cardinal. Not just that, I know this isn’t something you’re used to.” the surprise didn’t come for the fact that she knew he felt like that, but because he didn’t expect her to say anything regarding it “This life–”

“Life?” Cardinal cut her sentence again. The truth was that he was growing tired of that so-called life, and she must have guessed it “How is this a life for me? I barely do anything.”

“This is temporary.” said Vi “Just until the Resistance is ready to receive you.”

Cardinal just sighed “And then what?”

Vi kept quiet at that, and just after some seconds, she spoke again, and her voice was warm when she did, Cardinal noticed “That’s not up to me, truly. But General Organa is a great leader; very kind and comprehensive. I told you she’d receive you well, and she won’t fail that, I’m sure.”

That was one of the rare times he’d seen her talking serious to him out of the _Absolution_. She meant what she said, he concluded. There was nothing she could do for him “Thank you for your honesty.”

“Anytime.” Vi replied, turning away. He knew she was watching him and had no idea how much it would last, but she was being nice. Maybe that was honest, indeed. Or maybe it was just her orders.

Well, but that didn’t really matter.

* * *

ON CORUSCANT:

 

Vi was seated on her bed holding a datapad, the bedroom door closed, but the window left open, so the air entered softly through it. She was finishing her daily report on Cardinal and sending it to Leia. There wasn’t much to say, since he’d done pretty much the same that day from all previous days, so it was quick. She then went straight to her next task: calling Baako.

She’d been trying to contact her brother since she’d come back to Coruscant, unsuccessfully. He wouldn’t answer on his personal comm, and on his office the only answer she’d get was from his secretary.

She knew she couldn’t answer him when he’d called before she was captured, but she wished she could have.

“Hello?” the delicate female voice came out of the speakers.

“Hello, it’s Vi. Is my brother back already?” Vi asked.

“Not yet, Vi, I told you, he’s on a diplomatic mission.” said the secretary. It was the same answer she’d given a week ago.

“A mission to where?”

“The Unknown Regions. There’s no signal there, probably, that must be why he’s not answering your calls.”

Vi had doubts about the lack of signal. She had been to the Unknown Regions herself, and communications worked fine there. Well, maybe Baako was somewhere really far. Doing what, she didn’t know, though.

Putting her datapad aside, she lay down for a second to ease her mind, which was filled with worried thoughts. The power she’d seen on the _Absolution_ , what the Resistance would do about it, what Cardnial would tell them after the three months Leia had stipulated… But she tried to focus on her personal problems now.

She hadn’t seen Baako for a long time, and she missed him. They used to be very close before he started his diplomatic career, some years ago. Soon after, she had joined the Resistance, and the endless process of hiding things from him had begun. It set them apart a little, but she believed that what they had before wasn’t lost. He was her family, her whole family since their parents had…

“Vi, are you there?” Lihanna’s voice sounded outside the room. Vi pressed the button on the wall to open the door and as her friend came in, she closed it again “I was looking for you, dinner is ready.”

“Oh, thanks Lihanna. I was going in a minute.” Vi replied, giving Lihanna a sad smile, which she noticed right away.

“What are you worried about?”

“Many things, but Baako, mainly.” being honest was a habit Vi had regards those siblings, mainly Lihanna. She and Yuny were the only ones in the Resistance to know about Baako “He’s not answering my calls, his secretary said he’s on a diplomatic mission in the Unknown Regions and there’s no signal there, but… What kind of mission would take him to the Unknown Regions in the first place?”

“An important one, I think.” said Lihanna “Maybe that’s why he’s not answering you. You always assume the worst, don’t you?”

She was smiley, but Vi couldn’t return that “What worries me is that Cardinal knew about him, he told me during the interrogation. What if someone else in the First Order knows?”

For Vi’s surprise, Lihanna laughed “You really think they would kidnap a diplomat? That’s the perfect way to make the Republic stop ignoring them and start seeing them as enemies. Exactly what the Resistance wants. They wouldn’t do that.”

“You think so?”

“I’m sure of it. You would be too, smart as you are, but the worry with your brother is making you imagine things.” Lihanna smiled again to tell her “Now let’s have dinner, please.”

This time, Vi managed to smile back at her friend.

“Oh, and I forgot to ask you: did the remedies I gave you for the cramps work?” she asked the spy.

“Well, not really, but the cramps stopped eventually.” Vi replied. She still didn’t know how those cramps had come so strong, neither how they’d gone away, but everything seemed to be back to normal now, so there was no reason to worry about that. The two then walked out of the room. Maybe Lihanna was right, and Vi was just imagining things.

That was what she hoped.

* * *

 ON THE _FINALIZER_ :

 

Days were passing quickly on the _Finalizer_. The gas leaking on the bridge had been fixed, so Phasma could resume her daily route to the training center, which was rarely different. Two days ago, her morning had begun with coordinating a mission in Rakata Prime from distance. It was successful, of course, even with some setbacks on the way. The object of the mission, maps to a secret mining with plenty of resources on the planet, according to General Hux, had taken longer than they should to be found, for some reason. But they had been in the end, by JK-3737, a stormtrooper who was involved in the mission, who had managed to find where the local people were hiding them. The maps were already at the _Absolution_ like General Hux had ordered some time before he’d left to the _Supremacy_.

On days where there were no missions, Phasma would just follow her routine, which never really changed. It wasn’t different when she was on Parnassos, with the Scyre; anything could happen at any time, but things didn’t use to happen at all.

That morning the reports of her officers brought good news about both the recruits and the battalions, and she confirmed that when she watched the trainings herself. It took most of her day, and after dinner she was ready to start her personal training when HR-5578 ran to her in one of the hallways.

“I’m sorry to bother you before your personal training, Captain, but I have an urgent matter.” he said. Phasma stopped walking and turned to him.

“What is it?” she coldly asked.

“We found out what delayed our last mission.” the officer answered “It was because of one of our own.”

He wouldn’t call it an urgent matter if it was a mistake or a simple failure, Phasma thought. That surely meant betrayal “Who?”

HR-5578 took a deep breath before answering “JK-3737 himself.” at that moment, he got to catch Phasma’s attention “I rechecked the mission’s data and found out he’d been communicating with the people holding the map in Rakata Prime. I believed he’d warned them about our mission in order to be the one to find the maps. I and TT-7595 interrogated him and he confessed it.”

“You ran an interrogation without my knowledge?” Phasma inquired, serious. The first-officer quickly replied:

“Never, Captain. But everything happened fast, so I found better getting the information before JK-3737 found a way to run or something.”

For Phasma, that was no justifying. HR-5578 was a good first-officer, but he did make mistakes like these from time to time. Luckily for him, there was something bigger to worry about now.

“Take me to him.” the Captain ordered “But in the next time, you will let me know about the traitor in the very first second, or there will be consequences.”

HR-5578 didn’t dare to talk; instead, he walked with Phasma to one of the interrogation rooms, and when she crossed the door, she saw TT-7595 aside the interrogation chair, where a short man with very pale skin was seated.

She remembered JK-3737 well, she’d seen his face before. Although it was different now, because of the bolts he’d been given in that chair; his light eyes were reddish and his skin looked like burnt. He seemed exhausted, yet he looked at Phasma when she arrived. He’d never been the best trooper, neither the worst. He had the same chances of being the one to find the maps that any other trooper had. Unless he’d arranged all of that, which made a lot more sense now.

The door closed behind Phasma before she started to talk “JK-3737, it has come to my knowledge that you confessed having committed treason during the last mission in which you were sent.” there was no answer from the arrested stormtrooper; he just breathed deep and hardly, but stared at his captain. At least until TT-7595 pressed a button on the remote and the sound of a high-power bolt cracked into the room, making him shiver in the chair from head to toe. Phasma didn’t mind to say anything. She just stayed where she was, holding her blaster and looking at the chair, until the trooper went minimally back to normal. He coughed some blood, still.

“I have committed treason.” he said, recovering his breath “I told the people in Rakata Prime to run with the maps so that they wouldn’t be found by any other than me.”

The confession echoed in the room.

“How?” asked Phasma.

“It’s not hard to use the communications systems, Captain.” JK-3737 replied, coughing once again.

“Yet it is hard not to be caught, and you took the risk anyway.”

The trooper took a deep breath one more time “Isn’t the risk worth it if it might get you somewhere bigger?”

HR-5578 and TT-7595 kept quiet while Phasma approached the interrogation chair “So you justify your act of treason with ambition?”

JK-3737 seemed to be about to faint, but he didn’t give it a chance “We all commit treason for ambition.” for the third time since Phasma had gotten to that room, he coughed blood “And one thing’s for sure, Captain: when you’re ambitious…” his voice sounded hoarse now, because of the coughs, probably “There’s always a time when you fail.”

Phasma just looked at the trooper behind her helmet. For some reason, he was staring at her with the same intensity. Like he could actually see her eyes.

“Do you want more information from him, Captain?” asked TT-7595, holding the remote in his right hand, still.

“No. Get the firing squad ready, and group all troopers and recruits on our main hangar. I want them to see what happens to traitors.”

The orders were accomplished right away. Phasma just waited in the hangar while her officers took care of everything. All of that would take time from her personal training, but she'd find a way to deal with that. Maybe she'd skip it that day and make the troopers train more after the execution. Punishing them all for the treason of one usually worked pretty fine, because it created a thought in their minds that every one of them would suffer consequences because of one single traitor, so they would stop each other from even considering treason. Yes, she would do it that night.

In about half an hour, all troopers where in the hangar as well, and the firing squad was in position. Phasma then just watched HR-5578 and TT-9575 bring JK-3737 to where she was standing. KO-6609 was in charge of keeping the troopers in line. An easy task, since they were all very disciplined.

Finally, the traitor was positioned in front of the firing squad. Phasma looked towards the troopers “As you well know, in your last mission, finding the maps of Rakata Prime’s mining was a cause of delay, which was solved by your fellow, JK-3737.” she stopped for some seconds before continuing “He is actually a confessed traitor. He sabotaged the mission to be the one to find the maps, in order to get himself higher ranks.”

It was rare to find silence in that ship, but it was there now. She knew her troopers wouldn't say a word. Bad for them if they did.

“May you think of this lesson every time you consider betraying the First Order to benefit yourselves.”

When Phasma finished her sentence, the firing squad turned to JK-3737. She could hear their steps among the silent hangar.

“On my command.” said the Captain. The troopers held their blasters in position. However, before she gave the final order, she looked at the traitor one last time. She'd seen many of them begging for their lives, crying, shaking and screaming for mercy, but he didn't do any of that. He just stared back at her. No words and no signs of despair.

Treason for ambition. How fool of him.

“Execute.”

The blaster shots echoed in the hangar, and in less than a second, JK-3737 was nothing but a lifeless body with his hands handcuffed, fallen on the ground.

“For the treason committed by your former fellow, all of you will train four extra hours tonight. This is all.” the Captain didn't mind looking at the troopers, and just made sure her officers were taking care of running the extra trainings before leaving the hangar, looking one last time to the traitor’s dead body.

What he’d done would probably not happen again. Not while she was on command.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I must say that I cheered loudly while writing this last scene. I really love Phasma. The way she pushed back her nightmare at the beginning of this chapter is something I crave to do myself, to be honest, cause I have PTSD and a lot of nightmares due to it, I can tell you one thing: not letting them scare you is a hard task. Hearing that Phasma won't be on Episode IX made me sad in a way that I can't express. I literally started crying in the middle of she treet when my phone randomly played Evanescence's "My Immortal" that day. It took long to pass, and it didn't really, but the good news is that it gave me an idea for a new Phasma fanfic to continue this one. So, YEAH, new Phasma fanfiction coming after The Captain's Stain is finished!
> 
> I want to thank everyone who's been reading so far, for the kudos, bookmarks and views. You make my days! I would really love to know what you think about the story, so if you can, please, leave a comment! I'd love to talk to you!
> 
> Thanks for reading and may the Force be with you ALWAYS!


	5. Lullaby For A Dead Body

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cardinal goes with Vi, Yunny and Lihanna to Hosnian Prime to deal with some "business of the Resistance", as they call it, but he knows that Vi is going to see her brother, Baako. In the meantime, Phasma hears a child recruit singing a sad song in the while she visits the Absolution. A song she thought she'd never hear again after leaving Parnassos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, lovelies! Sorry that I took so long to update! I've been working a lot lately, in two part time jobs. My days are always so busy, and I've been sick too, so it all made me write in a very slow motion, to say at least, lol. But it's all for a good cause: I'm planning to move from Brazil to England by the end of this year. It won't be easy, I know, but I'm really happy for trying to do what I really want to do. But don't worry: even after I move, I won't stop uptading my fanfiction! And I'm so glad that I finished chapter 5! Can't wait for your opinions about it!
> 
> There you go! Hope you like it! Oh, and I want to thank everyone who commented so far! You make my days! If anyone has enjoyed the story so far, please, let me know! It really inspires me to keep on writing :)

**CHAPTER 5**

**\- LULLABY FOR A DEAD BODY -** ****  
  


ON CORUSCANT:

 

“We’re going to travel.”

Cardinal was in his room when Vi knocked on the door to tell him that.

“To where?” he asked. It was half of the day, and he had already helped Yuny with the ships in the morning, like he’d been doing since he and Vi had talked alone some days ago, and didn’t expect to do anything else at the time.

“Hosnian Prime.” the spy replied “I have some things to do over there, and Yuny and Lihanna happen to have too, so you will help them.”

“What kind of thing?” Cardinal asked again. Vi shrugged.

“Getting some merchandise we need and arranging bureaucratic stuff, mostly. Trust me, both Lih and Yuny are messy with those things, they need someone a little bit organized to help them and I can’t do it all the time–”

“You’re going to see your brother, aren’t you?”

Vi stopped what she was saying and looked at the former Captain “Yes, Emergency Brake, you guessed it right.” she started walking down the hallway and Cardinal followed her. She was very neutral now, but he remembered her look when he’d talked about Baako on the _Absolution._

“Yuny and Lihanna know about him.” he supposed.

“Indeed.” Vi replied.

“But your boss doesn’t.”

Vi kept on walking “Correct again.”

“Why are you even telling me this?”

“What reason do I have to hide it? You already know about Baako, and you’re no longer my enemy.”

Cardinal got what he wanted with the question; Vi was trying to gain his trust, and using a good technique for that: trusting him.

“Are you guys ready?” Vi asked Yuny and Lihanna when she got to the living room. The siblings nodded.

“We were waiting for you, actually.” joked Yuny. Vi just rolled her eyes and crossed the front door to get to a ship. It was Yuny’s, but Lihanna would be the one to fly on their way to way to Hosnian Prime. The ship wasn’t big, but it had enough room for the four of them. Cardinal went to one of the seats and stayed there while Lihanna took off.

Both Yuny and Vi held datapads as they seated, yet he seemed to be chatting with someone instead of just reading like her. He was actually laughing now.

“What’s up this time, Yuny?” Vi asked. Cardinal watched as Yuny talked about someone – whose name the former Captain didn’t pay attention to – who was telling him some gossip, probably from the Resistance.

“Everybody knew they had broken up, but now…” he was talking about two rebels who had a relationship. Or something like that “Since he was caught with a pilot doing things in one of the empty ships…”

Cardinal couldn’t help paying attention to this part “They were copulating on an empty ship?” he asked.

“We normally say making love, but that works too.” Lihanna said from the pilot seat. While Vi kept on reading, Yuny stopped chatting on his datapad for a second. He seemed curious about something. Until he finally asked:

“Do stormtroopers know what sex is?”

Cardinal barely had time to look at Yuny again before Lihanna turned his had to him and said “I’m sorry for my brother and his stupid questions, he will not do it again.” when she finished, she was giving Yuny the ugly eye.

“Come on, Lih, you never wondered?” he asked his sister.

“In my case” Cardinal interrupted them. It would be better to just answer “I was ten when I was rescued, and I lived in Jakku, so you can imagine I’d seen that by then.” that was true, more than he wanted, in fact “As for the recruits, I’m not very sure how, but they always know, and there’s always a time when they try. It usually ends on reconditioning chambers, or in the medbays. If not on both.”

That was also true. The recruits were getting better at hiding their escapes from the rules, but some of them were always caught. They probably didn’t do it anymore when they left to the _Finalizer_ , though, he imagined. The memories of those children leaving to become merciless killers were as bittersweet for him as those he had from seeing women selling their bodies to merchants and smugglers on Jakku. Sometimes, it seemed easier for them to get food this way than scavenging, and even some money, so they did it since they were very young. It was something his mother had always refused to do.

Until… _That_ day.

“So you sent recruits to the reconditioning chambers because they copulated?” Yuny asked “Poor kids.”

“This is not allowed in the First Order, and rules are rules.” answered Cardinal. At that, Yuny kept quiet.

“We’re here.” it was Lihanna who said, instead. Through the ship’s windows now you could see the middle of the morning lightening the skyscrapers of Hosnian Prime.

Although it was similar to Coruscant’s, somehow, that landscape had something special. Hosnian Prime was the heart of the Republic. That was where all the politicians who Brendol Hux and his son despised so much were. Cardinal had never thought he would come to see that planet in his life, not before the First Order had taken control over the galaxy. He used to look forward for this day, mainly when he was little, and he imagined he would travel through all the populated planets to see the domain of the First Order, remembering how he had helped them getting this domain.

Lies, lies, lies.

Lihanna landed in a spaceport a few minutes away from there. Cardinal was still watching through the windows how the ships landed and launched and people walked around when they arrived.

“We have documents and authorizations of merchants, you too, Cardinal.” the pilot said. Cardinal had imagined they’d have everything set up “So, if anyone asks, we’re buying and selling.” She got up from her seat and opened the ship’s door, and then the four of them went out to the spaceport, crowded and lighted by the sun “Yunny and Vi are going to fix bureaucratic stuff and you’re coming with me to get the merchandise we need.” Lihanna told Cardinal, to which he just nodded.

“We’ll meet in the ship at night, at most.” said Vi. he and Yunny then walked to the other side and disappeared in the crowd, while the former Captain followed Lihanna towards the exit of the spaceport. She carried a bag in her right shoulder that would surely be big enough to put whatever merchandise she needed inside, but he had the feeling it was there for something else.

If she handed it to him eventually, he’d be right.

“What merchandise are you picking up? If it’s not confidential.” Cardinal asked.

“Not at all.” said Lihanna “And I think you’re pretty used to what we’re buying today.” this last sentence made Cardinal turn to her.

“You’re saying we’re buying weapons in Hosnian Prime?”

“You’d be surprised with how many things you can get here under the table. They’re not made here, of course, but the best sellers are always where you never expect a weapon-seller to be. Or, at least, they’re employees are.”

She shrugged, and Cardinal didn’t say anything else when they moved forward. He didn’t use to teal with the buying of weapons in the First Order, not always. Mainly after Phasma had arrived, since they started trusting all to her.

Cardinal followed Lihanna through the streets of the city, all crowded and full of skyscrapers everywhere, until they reached a small store in what seemed to be a less visited area. There were many like that around, but the pilot walked inside the first one.

All the expansive and technological look from Hosnian Prime disappeared when they entered the door; the store was pretty old and messy on the inside, with people and aliens of all kinds crowded to get their merchandise. The noise was ten times worse than any stormtrooper’s refectory or training center Cardinal had ever been to.

He and Lihanna waited for a couple of minutes on a line, and then got to a counter where two Dugs counted received payments. Looking at the place carefully, Cardinal noticed there was a third alien a few inches back. He seemed to be packing the weapons.

“What will it be, pretty girl?” asked the front Dug to Lihanna. He seemed to already know her, and so did she, because she snorted.

“You know what my package is.” she replied “And I want fifty from the usual.”

“As you wish, darling.” the Dug said, smiling in a kind of a dirty way. Lihanna kept the hard look at him, Cardinal could see, and then the alien walked to his colleagues.

“It’s always like that.” Lihanna complained in a whisper. Cardinal didn’t reply; instead, he watched the first Dug scream something out in a different language, one that most people on that store wouldn’t understand, but the former Captain did. After all, it was the same some of Jakku’s population used to speak sometimes, he remembered well.

“This bantha wants fifty from the _usual._ ” the front Dug was saying. The others laughed out loud.

“If she pays with something else than money, maybe I’ll consider it.” replied the other.

“Put thirty and get done with this. Banthas don’t know how to do the math anyway.” a bunch of laugher among the three Dugs started at this point. And that was the moment when Cardinal screamed, in the old language from Jakku, which he never thought he’d use after leaving the planet decades ago:

“Hey!” Lihanna turned surprised to him when he said that, but he kept on staring at the Dugs, who stared back at his imposing face with shocked eyes “You’ll give her fifty of whatever she ordered.”

“You know this language?” the pilot asked Cardinal.

“They spoke it a lot in Jakku.” the former Captain replied, and then turned back to the Dugs “Better: you’ll give her sixty for the same price, as an apology for how you treated her.” Pretty much everyone in the store was looking at that right now, and the Dugs were still paralyzed, which made Cardinal scream in their language again “Now!”

At that moment they started to move. Lihanna just watched everything happen, and seemed even more surprised when they delivered her more merchandise than she’d ordered. However, she didn’t ask, and just left the store with Cardinal minutes later, carrying two new bags “What did you tell them? What were they saying?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.” the former Captain replied “Let me help you with these bags.”

“Oh, don’t worry. In fact, I have a better idea.” said Lihanna “I planned to take you with me to all the places we must go, but you can clearly turn yourself around without me, so take this one” she handed him the bag she’d brought from the ship “There’s a datapad inside with a map of where we must go. You can go to the stores in the north, and I go south, it will save us time.”

Cardinal considered the new plan “Okay.”

“Just don’t go too far, believe me, Hosnian Prime can be very messy and it’s easy to get lost in the first time–”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure the locator in this bag will beep to you in case I get off the route.” Lihanna looked at Cardinal with a shock in her eyes that she unsuccessfully tried to hide “You really thought I wouldn’t think of it?”

The pilot looked away.

“It’s a standard thing, it’s not like we’re controlling your steps…”  Cardinal just looked at her, as if kindly asking her to cut the stalling. She got the message “It’s safety.”

Cardinal just sighed quietly. It would be pointless to discuss that “Don’t worry, it’s okay.” he said, putting the bag in his right shoulder and taking the datapad out of it to read the map.

“We’ll meet in the ship.” Lihanna said, turning around and disappearing in the crowd. She knew where to go, for sure. As for Cardinal, he accessed the map in the datapad and, when the location of the strange stores was enough memorized, he just headed north, like they had arranged.

* * *

 

ON THE _ABSOLUTION_

 

Everything had been tranquil in the First Order since that execution. No one had dared to talk, or maybe even think of what had happened, only if it was to remember carefully of a traitor’s destiny if they were caught. That was exactly what Phasma intended.

That day, she had flown to the _Absolution_ very early in the morning, for there were matters to be straightened there. Of course, now that Cardinal was gone, someone had to take care of the younger recruits, even if it was only a couple of times every now and then.

They all seemed to be improving. The Captain knew that the _Absolution’s_ officers wouldn’t fail her on that. In fact, she considered the children’s training better now that some time ago, when Cardinal led them. His former officers hadn’t even asked what had happened to him, which was good. They knew he was a traitor, and that was enough. They might not be as good as their former commander in training the kids, but they were immune to his ridiculous rebelliousness ideas, and wouldn’t pass them on to the recruits. So yes, they were better now.

Phasma took a brief look in a couple of kids who were practicing fighting, and then passed on to the rest of the training center, where they had their first contact with blasters. Those wouldn’t shoot, they were only for practicing purposes, but it still reminded her of her first contact with one of those. It hadn’t taken her long to learn the best aim. Kids there were still slow at that by then, but some of them shone when it came to shooting and fighting. One of those the Captain was watching now seemed to be an example of this.

The recruit was finishing a shooting simulation at that exact moment, and Phasma knew it was a girl, for she had heard of her abilities so much those last months. She wouldn’t miss one single shot in the simulator, like she had a quite advanced aiming system behind her helmet.

“PR-0106’s aiming is impressing, isn’t it?” Phasma heard the _Absolution’s_ first officer say.

“Indeed.” she agreed, still watching the young girl for a second, and then turning away with the officer, leaving to the refectory where the kids would eat “When will she be ready to go to the _Finalizer_?”

“In about a month or two, I believe. We’ll send some recruits along with her. They’re not as good as she is, but they’re about 13 now, the right age and enough practice. I think they’re ready to pass to the next level of their training.”

Phasma just nooded as the first officer kept on telling her about the recruits that would soon be sent to the _Finalizer_ , while both of them took a look at the kids who were eating now. At that age, not more than six years old, they still talked among them while they ate, so you could hear that annoying noise all around the refectory, making it hard to actually hear what the kids were saying. Phasma wouldn’t care about that, generally, however, she could hear one of the kids in a corner the tables. A girl with short red hair and light skin, she noticed, who intoned a soft slow melody, but dark, grim somehow. It seemed like a lullaby… A lullaby for a dead body.

But Phasma recognized such melody.

“Who’s that girl?” she asked.

“Captain?” the first officer interrupted his report.

“That girl with red hair, who’s she?” Phasma repeated. The officer looked at the girl.

“LS-3067, I think.” he replied “Why do you ask?”

Phasma didn’t say anything for some seconds “Nothing. Let’s continue.” she finally answered. But she didn’t pay attention when the first officer resumed what he was saying before. In her head, she repeated the melody the girl was singing, again and again, like she wanted to be sure of what she’d heard. Because she, indeed, knew that melody. And she knew it with lyrics:

 

_“If you get the smallest wound_

_Better tell your Mama soon_

_Edges red and skin gone white_

_Gonna lose a toe tonight_

_Don’t tell Mama and you’ll see_

_Wounds go putrid, dead you’ll be”_

* * *

 

ON HOSNIAN PRIME:

 

Vi entered the big hallway, walking slowly down its delicate decor. Yunny had gone fix whatever the Resistance needed him to, but that was not why she was on Hosnian Prime today.

She remembered the last time she’d been there. It’d been a while now. However, when she announced herself to the protocol droid in the front of the door that awaited in the end of the hallway, she was not received by whom she expected.

“Oh, hello, Vi.” she heard the voice of Baako’s secretary, the same who talked to her on the comm whenever Baako couldn’t answer himself, and soon saw her brown hair falling down her shoulder and green eyes looking at her.

“Where’s my brother?” Vi asked.

“He doesn’t feel well, so he asked me to receive all visitors–” the secretary said.

“Even me? He better be dying.” Vi said, not losing her sense of humor. She didn’t wait for the secretary to show her the way to the room where Baako worked, since she knew it from many other visits. The door was open when she got to it, and there she saw him.

The last time they’d seen each other, he wore his blue and black diplomat robe and was seating on his desk watching holos his colleagues had sent him, Vi remembered well. This time, however, Baako wore regular clothes, and was just standing there, looking through the window to the sun that went down.

“Surprise!” said Vi. Her brother turned to her at the same moment.

“I’m sorry, I told her you don’t feel well–” the secretary tried to say, coming behind Vi, but Baako stopped her.

“Don’t worry, it’s okay. You can go.” he said. The secretary just nodded, and then exited the room and closed the door. Vi looked at Baako. He was normally more serious than her, since always, but was calmer, most times. He’d always believed in diplomacy, something she’d never had talent to, honestly.

“What’s afflicting you?” Vi asked him, kindly smiling. She missed him so much.

“My head’s been aching for some time. It must be nothing.” Baako replied, considering his sister for some seconds “You changed your hair.”

Vi laughed “I grew bored of my old hairstyle. Well, it will always grow again.” Baako returned her smile. However, there was something different in him this time. He seemed, somehow, worried.

“What have you been doing all this time?” he asked.

“Well… Gallivanting, you know?” replied Vi, sure Baako would get the joke with what he would always say about what she did with her life. She kind of expected him to laugh a little.

But he didn’t “Where?” was what he asked, instead. Vi considered him now.

“Many places, to be honest, but nothing remarkable.” she said. Baako kept on staring at her somehow seriously, and then she laughed again “Okay, you got me, I’ve been to Nubia and spent some days there. But you know, right Baako, what we do in Nubia, stays in Nubia–”

She intended to keep on going with that, since Baako would always laugh in his overprotective way of the thought of his little sister partying in the little planet Nubia. However, while she talked, she’d gone close to his desk, which was in the middle of his way to her, and pressed a button that projected a holo. Vi stopped talking to see her own image popping up in front of her, the old dark locks still in her head, the way she used to look before… Well, being in a wanted list.

The word “WANTED” was right below her picture in that holo “Okay, you actually got me now.” she babbled.

“Vi, when a person’s image ends up in a holo like this, it can only be two things:” Baako interrupted her with what she knew he would say “Smuggling, or that infamous radical group they’re calling Resistance.”

Vi kept quiet this time. What she’d been hiding with big effort for years now had just been discovered. There was no joke or funny comment she could make of it now.

“Please, sister, tell me you’re smuggling illegal substances or whatever–” Baako tried to say, but Vi cut his begging.

“No, brother. It’s not that.”

Baako stared at Vi again. But this time, his eyes seemed just furious “How could you? Vi, after all I’ve done for us…”

“Baako, listen to me–”

“…I knew all this time that whatever you were doing mustn’t be anything that would lead you somewhere in your life, but Resistance, Vi?” Baako didn’t give his sister time to talk “It won’t ruin just your life, but my career and the career of everyone who works close to me–”

“I’m only doing what I believe it’s right!” Vi protested “There’s danger out there in the galaxy, a kind of danger the Republic can’t fight against.”

“Goodness, you’re talking like those fanatics who believe a new Empire will rise at any time!” said Baako.

“It’s because I do! And I don’t just believe it; I _know_ it’s real. I’ve seen it myself, brother.”

At that moment, Baako closed his eyes and lay his hand on his head, like he was trying to get rid of some kind of pain. Or better: some kind of thought “Vi, I did everything I could to give us a comfortable life. When you decided to walk on your own path, I accepted it with no hesitation, but I will not bear that you walk among criminals and fanatics because of this rebelliousness of yours against the Republic since our parents died–”

“Baako, don’t bring that up.” Vi interrupted, seriously this time. She stared at her brother with the same seriousness, but when he talked again, she once more already expected what he was going to say:

“You’ll quit it. You’ll come live with me, work with me, and we’ll forget about all of this and move on.” his words echoed in the small office, while he kept on looking hardly at his sister. Vi suddenly remembered the times when they were teens, when Baako would annoyingly order her to stop doing something because he felt it was dangerous to her. Because, as her older brother and only living relative by that time, he wanted to protect her. When he did so, she’d normally just accept what he said and go back on doing whatever he’d prohibited when he was no longer paying that much of attention.

But now she couldn’t do this. She knew that.

Slowly, but strongly, Vi looked at her brother again “No, Baako. I won’t.” She kept her eyes closed for a second after saying that, and when she opened them again, Baako stared angrily at her.

“Then leave.” he muttered.

“Baako, please, it doesn’t have to be this way–”

“I said ‘leave’.” Baako repeated “I don’t want to see you for a minute more. Leave and don’t come back. If anyone asks, I’ll say you died traveling to a radioactive planet.”

Instinctively, Vi took a step back. For those last words, she wasn’t expecting. Baako didn’t look at her one last time; he just went back to where he was standing before, and looked through the window again, like his sister wasn’t even there. For a moment, Vi’s memories went to all the moments they had spent together. Most of them were very happy, considering the difficult childhood both of them had lived. Since the last time they’d seen each other, she’d been waiting to talk to him about the things they wanted to do, the games they liked to play and so much they had in common, despite temperament differences. Now, in the blink of an eye, it was all gone.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

Without thinking much, Vi turned her back to her brother and opened the office’s door, leaving to the main one, where she saw the protocol droid once again, and realized it would be the last time she’d be there. The last time she’d see any of those small details of that apartment.

And if it depended on the path the galaxy was following, it would be the last time she’d ever see the last living person of her family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think is gonna happen next? Well, I have part of chapter 6 written already, and I think you probably won't guess, lol! Tell me in the comments what you believe will follow these events :D
> 
> Oh, and in case someone hasn't read the Phasma novel or don't remember the song the little trooper was singing, it will be more explained in chapter 6, but it's a song the Scyre used to sing on Parnassos. Phasma was frightened to hear it, I think you noticed... Well, all about that will be in the next chapter, lol!
> 
> Thanks again for all those who read it, sent me kudos and commented! Once again, don't feel shy to comment! I love to talk to you guys, and I'm always here, so I won't take long to reply! I'm looking forward for making new friends in fanfiction <3
> 
> See you in the next chapter! May the Force be with you all!


	6. The Truth Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After hearing the Scyre song again, Phasma has to deal with the bitter memories it brings her. And Cardinal and Vi end up in a funny situation, playing a game in which they'll know each other better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, sweeties! I'm so so sorry for taking so long to update! Unforunatelly, my former plans went wrong and I had to give up on moving to London and everything else. Depression struck me hard after that, and it's been hard to write lately. But I won't stop updating, don't worry. I'll try my best to update more often and not keep you guys waiting. I'm really really sad and don't know exactly what to do with my life, but writing always made me feel better, so I just can't stop it.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you like this chapter! I promise I won't take so long to post the next one!

**CHAPTER 6**

**\- THE TRUTH GAME -**   


ON THE _FINALIZER_ :

 

“ _If you get the smallest wound_

_Better tell your Mama soon–_ ”

 

“Captain”

The voice came through Phasma’s thoughts in a second, making her turn her head to her right side, where her first officer, HR-5578, was walking alongside her. She was aware enough to know he had been quiet until that moment, but his voice sounded like nothing more than an echo among the lyrics of that song. The Scyre song.

How could that girl possibly know its melody?

“…I watched the recruits all day, and they’re improving fast. However, I still see problems when it comes to…” HR-5578 went on speaking, and Phasma heard some of what he said, but most details were lost in the way. She could check the recruits the next morning, she thought, because now her head was all about that redheaded little girl. And, unfortunately, that song.

She _hated_ it. Not the song itself, but the memories it brought her. Not from the Scyre or her singing the song to Frey, who she was teaching to fight. Frey always said she wanted to fight like her. She’d rather not remembering her either “I must check some data. Come with me, HR-5578.” Phasma decided.

“Yes, Captain.”

The two walked some yards in the ship to a control room, where Phasma accessed the stormtrooper files. The girl’s number was LS-3067, she remembered. When the holo popped up in front of her, she saw the image of the redheaded child’s face. She didn’t seem different from any other the Captain used to see when she went to the _Absolution_ “What do you know about this young recruit?” Phasma asked.

“She was found as a baby in an abandoned area of Kuat some years ago and brought to Cap… To Cardinal’s training.” HR-5578 replied. Phasma thought a bit.

“Has her training group been in contact with anyone who’s gone outside the _Absolution_?”

“Not that I know, Captain.”

“Does she use to deviate from her group or the orders it receives?”

“I’m almost sure not. She’s a very obedient recruit. Follows all orders she receives, which is rare at this age.” said the first-officer. Phasma’s thoughts kept on running in her head. The girl was obedient. Seemed to have spoken to no one outside the _Absolution’s_ crew. And even if she had, who in the whole galaxy would know that song? Cardinal, maybe. Perhaps he’d taught the girl the song after the spy he interrogated sang it to him, learning it from whoever had told her the Captain’s story. It might be his last try to hunt her down, even if he wasn’t there anymore...

But did he have the time to teach the girl the song? “Is it all we have about her?” Phasma asked again.

“I’m afraid it is, Captain.” said HR-5578 “Is anything wrong about the recruit?”

Phasma thought about her recent suspicion again. Cardinal probably wouldn’t have time to teach the girl the Scyre song, and it would be hard for him to remember the exact melody to the point of teaching someone. The same applied to the spy. So it couldn’t be that. And, after all, none of them had no idea what that song meant to the Captain.

Or, she should say, why she would rather not ever being reminded of it. Which, for her misfortune, was happening now.

 

_If you get the smallest wound–_

 

It was ironic how it made sense to her when she was a kid, but not in the last time she’d sung that song. It actually felt like a slap in her face in that last moment, since the wound she was getting was everything but small, and she no longer had a mother – or _anyone_ – to tell about that.

It’d been a month from the first time, maybe a couple of weeks more, she was trying not to count when Brendol discreetly came to her after her training and gave her that same order. Eventually, it would become easy to lose counting completely, she would soon find out.

_“Why are you still wearing your helmet?”_ Brendol asked with a smile when she got to his suite that night. She was still with her helmet, in fact, but took it off as soon as he ordered. She’d do her best not to let him see that it was a thousand times easier to stand what was to come with her face hidden, so she just stared at him firmly, just like the last time _“I saw your improvement in your training. I’m very proud of you, Phasma.”_

Another ironic thing was that he could be the most serious person to everyone else, but not in that room, with her. She would like to think that a naked woman could inspire such changes in a man, but she knew it wasn’t the case. What made Brendol change was having a specific woman naked in his room available for him to get on top of her the way he wanted whenever he wanted.

And she could bet he wouldn’t smile like that to any woman of the night. They could give him pleasure, but not the sadistic pleasure of dominating someone everyone found untamable and unbeatable.

_“Thank you, sir.”_ Phasma replied, still steeled.

_“You’re indeed learning well.”_ said Brendol, walking to the center of his quarters _“Take the armor off and kneel in the bed. Oh, and don’t forget to go slow with the bodysuit.”_

Of course, he wouldn’t just go there and do it. It had to please him to no end, and nothing seemed more pleasant to Brendol than torturing her with specific instructions of how she should act before being violated for the second time.

Phasma just obeyed coldly like it was a regular military order. He knew she wouldn’t be doing that freely, and forcing her to seemed to be enough to please him, but she wouldn’t feed his sadism by letting him see her pain.

Brendol put her hands on her hips and pulled herself to him, as she kept her back bend and head down. She knew he couldn’t see her face right now, but she couldn’t give in anyway. He’d know if she showed any feeling regarding what was happening.

But she wasn’t exactly expecting a detail from what was coming next _“You remember that song from your people, don’t you, Phasma?”_ That made her indeed confused. Why would he ask about a Scyre song? _“Sing it to me.”_

She had to prevent herself from looking back, at where he was standing unbuttoning his pants.

_“What was the beginning of it, again?”_ Brendol said, like he was thinking out loud “ _If you get the smallest wound… Come on, Phasma, sing it.”_

She remembered the lyrics, of course she did. She might even end up forgetting it eventually, but not after that night. She got that for sure when she started singing it. After the first two verses, she felt Brendol forcing himself into her.

_“Edges red and skin gone white, gonna lose a toe tonight…”_ she went on, pain starting to spread through her, like a month ago. She’d fooled herself with the thought that it might become more bearable. It felt as bad as before. Even worse, in fact.

“ _Oh, yeah… So warm, so tight…”_ Brendol’s moans got into her head and mixed with the song’s melody, and all together infected her thoughts like lethal gas. Every time he scratched her hip’s skin, she felt it poisoning her more and more.

_“Don’t tell Mama and you’ll see, wounds go putrid–”_ she stopped for a second to hear Brendol’s hoarse voice again, in what seemed like a scream he was holding enough not to let anyone hear it outside, but letting lose enough for her to hear. To remind her, as she went on with the lyrics, of what was her fate in case she denied him what he desired _“…dead you’ll be.”_

When she went back to her quarters that night, she threw up not once, nor twice, but three times in a row. She didn’t know it yet, but it would become a habit of her system.

Phasma could almost feel her stomach sickening again now, just by remembering why that damn Scyre song was to her like a hellish nightmare “No, HR-5578, apparently there’s nothing wrong with this recruit.” Her first-officer nodded “You can leave for ease now.”

“Captain?”

“We’ll talk about the rest of the matters tomorrow.” Phasma said, turning her back to HR-5578 and preventing herself from thinking about all of that the only way she knew “I’m going to my personal training.”

* * *

 ON HOSNIAN PRIME:

 

It’d been a couple of hours since Lihanna and Cardinal had split up to get the merchandise. He was worried it would take long, at first, but for his surprise, it was a way faster than he’d thought, which ended up with him waiting on the spaceport, in front of Lihanna’s ship, for the others to come by, ignoring a noisy bar close to where he stood.

On one hand, he preferred to avoid being alone, because when there were people around it was easier not to think about the future. And the past. On the other, he didn’t feel totally comfortable as a civilian among other civilians still. They all had built their lives, family, jobs, everything they had, and he… Well, he had nothing. All he had was the First Order, and now that he wasn’t there anymore, he’d have the Resistance.

Did he really want that? He didn’t know. What options did he have? He didn’t know either.

The bar started getting noisier. Too much people talking at the same time for him to understand what they were saying. But, for some reason, some kind of mess seemed to be starting inside there, because the voices were louder now than before. He barely knew anything about bars, only what he’d seen in Jakku. Places were people drank together and played card games such as Sabacc seemed so distant from him now that it was even ironic to have one so close.

Voices came louder again. Maybe it was a fight. Who’d ever know. Well, maybe Vi and the siblings would be more used to such social interactions. By the way, where would Vi be at that point? How could a visit to her brother – which he knew was a secret she kept from most part of the Resistance – take so long? Well, maybe she was doing something else. Something regarding him, perhaps…

He rolled his eyes and, to ignore his thought, walked towards the noisy bar. He still had some credits left from the buying of Resistance merchandise, it wouldn’t be crime to get something to eat. However, when he entered the bar, he noticed the mess was coming from a table a little far from the front door, where some clients indeed played card games, but one of them was no stranger to him: the dark skin and yellowish hair made him recognize Vi seated at the corner of the big table, counting coins and credits at her side. Judging by an alien screaming furiously at the other corner, that seemed to be exactly the problem.

“Just seat and cry, baby.” Vi said, and Cardinal, still standing close to the door, was shocked to hear how hoarse and kind of dormant her voice seemed. But the surprise was gone when he spotted an empty bottle of liquor close to her chair.

“What are you doing?” he asked, walking towards her, and she turned to him quickly.

“Hey, Emergency Break!” when Cardinal heard that, he felt like hiding somewhere, because pretty much everyone close to that table stared at him as if wondering what was the nickname about. However, there was no time for hiding, because a man coming from there stopped in front of him and said:

“Man, tell your girl to be careful, Gulliver right there is mad cause she won him on Sabacc.”

“Wait, she’s not my–” Cardinal tried to say, but was interrupted once again, by the alien Gulliver this time.

“She better run and hide, no one takes my money on Sabacc!”

Vi laughed heavily at that, and she seemed even more drunk by doing that. Cardinal just didn’t get anything of what was happening there “Okay, I’m sorry if my… Colleague is bothering you–”

“I’m sure she cheated!” Gulliver accused. He was chubby and pinky, didn’t seem much harmful, but Cardinal didn’t know if he had someone with him to cover his back and solve his trouble, so he found better not to risk it.

“How could she cheat, look at her, she’s drunk.” he said.

“Hey!” Vi protested. Cardinal knew well she would be able to cheat at a Sabacc game even drunk, but luckily for him that alien didn’t know her, so there could be an escape through that excuse.

“I want my money back!” screamed Gulliver. At that moment, Vi got up from her chair, holding the empty bottle and putting what she’d gained in the game inside a cloth bag she was carrying.

“Then win the next time.” she said. Most people actually laughed at that – except for Gulliver, of course – so she just walked away from the table and seated at the counter, delivering her empty bottle to a droid who gave her a full one.

“Vi, what is happening, why are you drinking?” Cardinal asked.

“Because… I want to?” Vi suggested, getting the other bottle and drinking the liquor straight from it. Cardinal was still wondering what was happening, but seeing that gave him such an afflictive feeling that he couldn’t help himself from taking action.

“Give me that, I want to drink too.” he didn’t wait for Vi to reply, and just got the bottle from her hand and drank from it as well. He knew it was a terrible idea, but at least she wouldn’t drink all of that alone.

Indeed, his throat seemed to burn when the liquid came down, as in the first time he’d drunk in his life, still inside the _Absolution_. He thought it might feel better this time, but it felt exactly the same: bitter as heck.

In some second dizziness came to him, making everything sound distant. The next thing he could hear properly was Vi, laughing like a little kid in her chair “And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how an ex-FO drinks.” Luckily, no one paid attention to that enough to realize she was abbreviating First Order “Give me back my bottle, you don’t know how to do that.”

“Try me.” he challenged. His thoughts kept on reminding him of how stupid that idea was, but he feared what could happen if Vi drank another full bottle of liquor.

Maybe he shouldn’t be. Maybe she actually knew how to deal with alcohol, unlike him. But still, he was.

“You know what? I’m gonna finish this somewhere else.” Vi called the droid and gave him some credits “Give me two more bottles.”

“What?!” Cardinal inquired. Vi just put the bottles in her bag and walked out of the bar, with him following and grabbing the bottle she was still drinking again “I told you, if you’re drinking, I’m drinking too.”

“Okay, I’m pretty sure you’ll drop it in the third swig.” said Vi, still slow and kind of hoarse.

“Again, try me.”

The two walked towards the ship again, and as it was not open, they just sat in front of it to wait for Lihanna and Yuny.

“Gave up already?” Vi teased. Cardinal drank another gulp. Things were starting to get dizzier for him by then “You know, as you insist on drinking, I know a funny game: you say something you believe it’s true about me, and if you’re right, I drink. If you’re wrong, you drink. There’s only one rule: no lying. The last to faint wins!”

That seemed nothing but weird, Cardinal thought, but well, he was already into the game somehow. He’d be drunk in a couple of minutes and he knew that, so what could go wrong? “You start?”

Vi put the bottle in the space between them “As unlikely as it might be, this is not the first time you drink.” She smiled to say that. Cardinal didn’t reply, just took a swig from the bottle and put it back where it was.

“And you must do that very often.” he guessed, for more sad that drinking all the time might seem for him. He just couldn’t see her doing that.

“Drink.” Vi said, for his relief. At least that meant she didn’t use to get drunk a lot. After Cardinal drank again, she restarted “You knew I don’t drink a lot. You know I’m a spy and everything, you just said that to trick with me.”

She was right. Again.

“And you didn’t know I had drunk before, you were just trying me.” Cardinal said after drinking. Vi smiled for a second, looking at the bottle. Now he seemed to have gotten it right.

“Drink.”

Cardinal looked at her. He wasn’t expecting to get that one wrong “How did you know–”

“That’s not part of the game.” Vi interrupted “Come on, drink.”

He knew that in a short time he would be fainting and losing the game, but at that moment, he allowed himself to laugh before drinking another gulp from that bottle. It ended, then, so Vi got one of the others she’d brought and another round started.

Cardinal felt more like laughing at every swig. And he took most of them, since Vi seemed to know more about him than he expected. Not that it was a problem, since all the questions in that game were silly and supposed to be funny, he thought. He got two or three right about her, and in the end of the last bottle, she said:

“You said all of that about stormtroopers not being allowed to have sex and stuff, and that rules are rules, but I’m pretty sure you already looked at one of your female ex-military-colleagues and considered breaking those rules. Better: you actually already broke them.”

Cardinal stared at her. He knew he was smiling, looking forwards where pretty much everything was a blur besides Vi’s image, which was the only thing he could see straight.

She was smiling too “Drink.” he said. Vi seemed surprised by that, but drank, as the rules said “I knew you don’t drink often. You did it today because something happened between you and your brother. Something that’s making you feel bad, so you wanted to forget it.” For a moment, he felt like he was talking to himself some time ago. When he felt like it wasn’t worth it to keep his memory. When he actually felt it wasn’t worth it to go on.

Vi looked away. For an instant, she was quiet, just looking at nowhere. But before she could reply, whether drinking or not, they heard footsteps approaching, and Lihanna and Yuny appeared in front of the ship. The sister put her hands on her waist “What the heck is going on here?”

“They’re drinking, Lih, can’t you see?” Yuny joked, and Lihanna just sighed.

“What did you do, Vi?”

“Me?” Vi inquired, laughing “Why is it always my fault?”

“Sure, I bet Cardinal went down to the bar and started drinking on his own.” said Lihanna.

“Hey” Cardinal interrupted. That was when he noticed his voice was barely sounding and he was totally dizzy and heavy “I had… Drunk before, you know?”

Lihanna sighed again “Clearly.” she said. Yuny was holding back not to laugh out loud. Or at least that’s what Cardinal could see.

“Open this ship, Lih, I wanna sleep.” Vi complained. Lihanna opened the ship’s main entrance, and Vi and Cardinal got up to try to carry their things back inside, but for him at least, it felt impossible.

“Leave it there, I’ll carry everything inside.” said Yuny. Cardinal just thanked – or felt like his mouth was pronouncing “thanks” – and got inside the ship. Everything was going round and round in his head.

He went to a chair and seated on it, and it reclined so that he could lie a little. At his side, he spotted Vi in the same position in another chair “Congrats, Emergency Break.”

“For what?” Cardinal asked. He could barely see, again, but he noticed Vi was smiling. Again.

“You won the game…” she replied, closing her eyes “I’m fainting before you…”

Those words barely sounded, because, in fact, she was fallen asleep already. Cardinal kept on looking at her, blinking slowly before his eyes closed as well. One day, he thought, he’d have his last question of the truth game answered. But now he was just too tired to think of that.

* * *

ON THE _FINALIZER:_

 

Phasma had been training for three hours now.

It was not what she used to do. Normally, her personal training would last only an hour or an hour and a half, because she knew all her technique and abilities where perfect for battle. Always. She kept on well aware of that, however, she couldn’t stop herself from keeping there shooting holos, throwing her spear on targets, running, jumping… Whatever. She just wanted not to think of that song.

She stopped after a couple of minutes, though. Too tired to go on. If it was a battle situation, she’d surely push harder, but it would be a stupidity to push her body to the limit out of that. The Captain took a deep breath. She just needed a good bath now. She could feel her hair dripping sweat in her neck underneath her helmet. The troopers and recruits were having their dinner now, so there was no one watching, she knew that. Carefully, she removed her helmet and allowed herself to breath better.

Her helmet, her whole armor, in fact, was at the same time protective and suffocative sometimes. It was hot inside there, and when she had to run too fast, it was hard to actually breath underneath all of that. But she knew it was protection. Not just against blaster shots, fire and explosions; it was something she wore, among other things, to keep a desirable image away from everyone’s eyes. If they ever saw she was beautiful, would they respect her? Fear her? Brendol Hux hadn’t. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have done… What he had done. She didn’t know if any of the Scyre had ever looked at her with those eyes, didn’t know and didn’t care, but all she wished sometimes was that everyone would see her like Frey used too: as someone she wanted to fight like. _Be_ like.

Yeah, that’s what Frey used to do. She didn’t want to remember that. She didn’t want to remember anything at all at that moment. Just because of that, she was deciding to put her helmet back on and return to practice when she turned her had to her side and spotted, standing right aside her, a smiley brown-haired little girl.

Phasma was paralyzed for a moment, staring at the girl, wondering what she was doing there, but couldn’t say anything, because the girl was faster; still smiley, she opened her mouth and said:

“One day, I want to fight like you.”

In a second, Phasma was taken back to Parnassos, to the Nautilus itself, for any morning from inside the cave when she would practice fighting along with Frey, she holding her child-sized axe and watching fascinated the woman that was most likely her aunt. Maybe she knew that in he own way, as little as she was.

_“One day, I want to fight like you, Phasma.”_ her childish voice would sound whenever they finished a training, and Phasma would hold her in her arms to give her back to Ilva, her mother.

_“One day you shall, little Frey.”_

Frey hadn’t got to it.

In another millisecond, if Phasma could count it as that, the little girl in front of her ran away.

“Hey, stop, that’s an order!” the Captain screamed, putting her helmet back and running towards the kid. The seconds she took to do it got her late, because she couldn’t see exactly where the child had gone. She never forgot a face. Never. But she didn’t remember seeing that child in the _Absolution…_

Phasma ran down the hallways, her spear still in her hand, but the child seemed to be gone. How could she not find a little kid? If the girl was just running away, she’d have caught her. No, she knew where she was going. She was hiding somewhere on purpose.

But why would she run and hide after saying specifically that? Exactly the same Frey used to say?

Instead of keeping looking for the girl, Phasma walked to the refectory, where she found HR-5578 and her remaining officers in the _Finalizer_ unmasked having their dinner. As soon as she walked inside the refectory, everyone stopped eating to look at her “HR-5578” she called.

“Captain.” the first-officer rose from his chair and saluted, along with the other troopers and recruits.

“A child has appeared in the training center just now.” Phasma said.

“A child?” HR-5578 asked.

“Yes, a little girl, about five, I suppose. Light skin, brown hair. She appeared behind me in the middle of my personal training, then ran away. Find her.”

“But…” something seemed to be confusing HR-5578, and the other officers too, because they just looked at each other before he talked again “There’re no kids in the ship, Captain.”

Phasma just took a breath “Didn’t you hear what I just said? I _saw_ a child in the training center, and she ran. I ordered you to find her.” she repeated, slowly, like she was trying to make him understand “Why are you still standing there, HR-5578?”

“Right now, Captain.”

As soon as HR-5578 walked away from the table, the other officers gave orders to other Stormtroopers for them to look for the child all over the ship. Phasma just watched them abandoning dinner and starting to search for her. Wherever she was, they would find her eventually.

There was nowhere hide inside the _Finalizer_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, fans of Game Of Thrones probably noticed the reference here, right? Tyrion's game? Hahaha, these were the funniest parts with him on GoT for me, that's why it ocurred to me to adapt this little game to Cardinal and Vi. I felt like it fit their drinking situation, lol.
> 
> Besides that, the rest of the chapter was pretty tense to write. Phasma's flashbacks are the darkest, but I feel like there's something... I don't know, valuable about writing them. It's like whenever I did I was taught to be strong like Phasma was, you know? Maybe I'm tripping, it's 2 a.m. here in Brazil now and I'm just so sleepy, not to mention that I gotta wake up at 6 a.m. tomorrow.
> 
> But as I said before, as I'm not moving anymore, I'm not working anymore, so at least until February, I'll have more time to write. I'm working on two-three original books at the same time as well, but luckily everything will set up from now on. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about my life. My father convinced me to go back to Law School, but you know, it's not what I want to do. I want to be an actress, singer and writer, I think you all know that. I can say to you for sure that I just have no idea what to do with my life now, but I try not to think about it, otherwise I'd go crazy. So I'll just keep on writing. It's all I can do, after all.
> 
> Thanks for reading and I hope you're enjoying! May the Force be with you always!


	7. No Meaning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three months Leia stipulated for Vi to watch Cardinal are coming to an end, and did Phasma find the child she saw in the Finalizer?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YEAHHHH I'M UPTADING!!!
> 
> Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I updated the last time! I'm so so sorry for this! My life's been so rushed, I'm back to Law School (which I didn't want, but nevermind...), I'm trying to find a job... It's just too much happening, but I'm focusing on finishing this fic soon, although there are many many chapters still to write. I want to publish the sequel to this one (the one which is post TLJ) before Episode IX, so I better run! Lol :D
> 
> Well, I hope you like this new chapter! Ready? Let's go!

**CHAPTER 7**

**\- NO MEANING -**   


ON HOSNIAN PRIME:

 

The first thing Cardinal felt that morning was a headache. A strong headache that seemed to make everything spin around and leave his eyelids heavy as heck. Although he didn’t remember exactly what had happened, he’d felt that before, and was sure of the reason why.

“Morning, Emergency Brake!” Vi’s voice came to his ears and Cardinal finally opened his eyes, spotting the spy walking in front of him with her old playful smile on her face. Like nothing was wrong and she hadn’t drunk almost three bottles the night before.

He should have imagined it.

“Time to go back to Coruscant.” It wasn’t Vi to say, but Lihanna, who was walking to the pilot’s seat, where her brother seemed to be fixing something.

“Okay” Cardinal replied, making a move to get up, but his try to stand was a total failure which almost ended with him falling to the ground.

Vi started laughing “Seems like someone here can’t take hungover!” she exclaimed. Cardinal couldn’t say anything in his defense, considering that his first steps were dizzy as heck, to be honest.

He would _never_ drink again, he thought.

“Everything seems fine, Lih.” Yuny told his sister.

“Let’s fly, then.” she replied. Cardinal was still close to his chair when Vi came to him.

“Seriously now, how are you feeling?”

“A little bit dizzy, but that’s all.” answered the former Captain.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” Vi said.

“I’d rather not to.” Cardinal confessed, making the spy laugh again. That reminded him of something “How did you know I’d already drunk? You said that in the game last night.”

“Oh, but what’s said in the game, stays in the game…” Vi teased, but didn’t give Cardinal time to reply “I’m kidding. Well, I didn’t know… But I thought that, because of all you were going through there, you might have.”

She seated in the chair aside and put her seatbelt, and Cardinal did the same. Vi’s words were kept in his head. Not because she knew he had broken a rule from the First Order – she’s seen him doing worse, in fact. But because she’d thought about him enough to realize what he was going through.

No one had ever done that to him before, of course. And the weirdest thing was that… It felt good at that moment.

“Reaching hyperspace.” Lihanna announced, interrupting Cardinal’s thoughts. He found better leaving the matter aside while she ship flied to Coruscant.

* * *

 ON THE _FINALIZER_ :

 

Phasma had just entered the main control room of the _Finalizer_ , where officers were working on their computers as usual, but she wasn’t there to look for any of them; close to a computer where the ship’s cameras images were analyzed, HR-5578 looked at the Captain who’d just arrived and walked towards her.

“Where is the child, HR-5578?” Phasma asked.

“Captain, I must tell you–”

“Did you find her or not?” Phasma said again, this time more inquiring than asking.

“No, Captain.”

For a moment, Phasma felt like tiredness and frustration were hitting her with full strength. It’d been past five hours since she’d seen that little girl in her training center, and she’d spent every minute of this time watching carefully while her troopers looked for the child, when she was supposed to be sleeping.

How could they not have found that girl? “So why are you here talking to me instead of keeping searching?”

“Captain, we looked through the whole ship–”

“Then look better!” Phasma exclaimed, angrily “What about the camera images?”

“I couldn’t find anything there.” HR-5578 said, and before Phasma could reply, he turned to the officers and called “Arna!” Quickly, a short woman with brown hair, wearing the black First Order uniform, turned to them.

“It’s true, Captain.” she said, typing in her computer “There’s no sign of the described child anywhere in the _Finalizer_.” Phasma thought for a second; the girl not being seen in any camera was strange, to say at least, but the Captain knew that the ship had escape routes, hidden, in their majority. It was very unlikely, but what if the child knew one of these routes? “And there’re no cameras in your area of the training center–”

“But there _are_ in the exit of it.” Phasma interrupted. The officer Arna changed the images in her screen to what the cameras in the exit of the Captain’s training center had recorded, and, for Phasma’s surprise, all she saw was herself running out of there.

“This is all we’ve got, Captain.” said Arna. Phasma was paralyzed for a second. The girl had exited her training center just a couple of seconds before her, how was that possible?

“Go back to work, Arna.” HR-5578 said, and while Arna resumed what she was doing, he walked along with Phasma to the room’s door “Captain, please, listen to me… There’re no kids in the _Finalizer_ , we all know that–”

“Are you suggesting that I’m seeing things?” Phasma asked, in a firm and grim tone.

“No way, Captain.” said HR-5578 “But you had been training for hours in a row, perhaps you’re just confused about _what_ you saw… Maybe it wasn’t a child.”

Phasma’s will was to give HR-5578 a scold right away, but she thought better not “I’m sure it was a child, HR-5578. I saw her very well, and she talked to me.”

The first officer kept quiet for a second before asking “And what did she say?”

Now that’s what was really suspicious. Phasma could still hear the girl’s voice in her head, saying the same words Frey used to say, with the same innocent eyes… And right after another girl had sung the Scyre song in the _Absolution_ … Would there be any connection between them both? The Captain didn’t know, but something was certain for her now; someone not far away knew things they shouldn’t know.

Phasma just breathed and said “That’s not your business. Keep on searching.”

* * *

 ON CORUSCANT:

 

It’d been some days since they’d come back from Hosnian Prime, and things had been calm through this time. The Reisstance’s merchandise had been delivered already, Yuny had taken care of that, and the rest of the matters were in Lihanna’s charge for now. That left Vi with only one obligation left: monitoring Cardinal.

It was a simple talk, and repetitive most of the time, but she was using it as a distraction now; watching the former Captain carefully while she pretended not to do so, paying attention to all details of what he did, kept her occupied. She kept on telling herself it was all to give the best reports to Leia not to admit she was using her mission to keep herself away from thoughts about Baako.

The General used to just receive Vi’s reports and give her an “OK”, but that day she had decided to talk to her a little more. And it wasn’t for nothing: the three months she’d stipulated were about to end.

“He’s been doing all we ask him for and nothing else, General Organa.” Vi said to the holo in front of her, where she saw Leia’s image staring back.

“Still no interest in normal life activities?” she asked.

“I think he’s hesitant about living a normal life, to be honest.” Vi took a deep breath before replying. Cardinal had said that to her with his own words, but she’d decided not to tell Leia about it explicitly. She didn’t know exactly why, but she didn’t want to expose Cardinal that much. In the end, the most normal thing he’d done all that time was getting drunk with her in Hosnian Prime. Which, of course, she hadn’t told Leia either.

“What do you think about that, Starling?” the General asked. That wasn’t the question Vi was expecting.

“I… I don’t think it has a meaning, General…” she said, trying to be the most honest she could “But I think that, if he was faking it, he wouldn’t be acting hesitant… He’d try to make it look like everything is fine. He’s not trying to deceive us.”

Vi could see Leia slowly nodding “You’re sure of that, I can see.” she said “Okay. We’ll receive him, then. Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Vi asked, kind of shocked.

“Well, if you’re so sure, I don’t see a reason for waiting any longer.” Leia replied “Bring him here tomorrow. We’ll be ready to listen to him.”

Although she didn’t know exactly why, Vi smiled to hear that “I won’t disappoint you, General.”

“I know you won’t Starling. Among the spies in the Resistance, you’re the one I trust the most, you know that.” said Leia “So if you trust his intentions so much… So do I.”

* * *

 ON THE _FINALIZER:_

 

Phasma was walking to her quarters after a long day in the _Finalizer_. The last days had been busy, but not enough to distract her from the kid she’d seen some time ago, who hadn’t been found till now. She couldn’t believe that. She just couldn’t.

How could HR-5578 and the rest of her troopers not have found a little girl? And things got worse than that, because the child was not dressed like a stormtrooper, and Phasma had looked over all the files from the _Absolution_ , and hadn’t found her. How could she be there, then?

I must be wrong, the Captain thought. The child probably was in the _Absolution’s_ files, but as she’d only have a couple of seconds to look at her face, she couldn’t see her straight. All she remembered was that the girl had brown hair and eyes, which was the most common thing to find. Phasma pushed her memory to the edge whenever she was alone, but she couldn’t remember, no matter how she tried.

HR-5578 had insisted, a couple of days after that night, that she was probably confused about what she had seen. That made her angry as heck. She was _not_ confused. She knew that very well. And still, that child hadn’t been seen by anyone else, neither captured by any camera from the ship. Something wasn’t right there.

Phasma knew what she had to do; call Hux in the _Supremacy_ and tell him about what was happening. But she hadn’t done that. She didn’t know exactly why. Maybe because it could be nothing in the end – in fact, nothing had happened in the last days –, or maybe because she didn’t want to look like she couldn’t keep the _Finalizer_ under control. Yes, it must be that. But she knew she could keep everything working on. She’d done that for at least nine years. The only incidents were recent, counting the mess Cardinal could have made if she hadn’t taken care of him, and all that had followed it. There was something relating those things, she was sure of that. It wouldn’t be happening that way if there wasn’t…

When Phasma finally reached her suite, she was feeling strangely tired. It was uncommon for her to want to just stop and get some sleep, but that was what she wanted to do right now. Again, that day had been busy, starting with inspecting the recruits’ training, planning the First Order’s actions, and a big alert from TT-7595 about that trooper, NL-1244, from the ninth battalion, causing trouble again. It was not the first time nor the second, but Phasma just told HR-5578 to take care of that. There was just too much in her mind now. Luckily, her food would come in about an hour, so she just had to wait for it and then she could rest.

There were still some things she had to do, but she could do it in her datapad, it wasn’t necessary for her to talk to anyone or effectively do anything. It was just some checking. Phasma then just removed her helmet and seated in her bed, holding her datapad in her hands and turning it on to check what she needed. Some files from the ship, schedules from the next day, details from the next missions… She was in that part when the screen went blank.

Phasma starred at her datapad, wondering what was happening to it. Was it broken, by chance? Out of power, to turn off by itself so easily? However, she didn’t have much time to think about that, because, after a single second, she saw something appearing on the screen, and before she could do anything, she saw, shining in the screen, letters. But not in a way she could read it, not in a way anyone would be able to read, she thought. All she saw was a bunch of letters randomized, forming no words or sentences:

 

“MMEINAED TRONS EEH HYRA OB YUAN BHEOR WOS HTGD SDND S GIMG”

 

“But what–” the Captain’s eyes were fully focused on those letters that made no sense, but within another millisecond that she couldn’t even notice, they were simply gone “What is this?...” In that moment, Phasma heard her comm ringing. She left her datapad in her bed and answered it right away. The voice who came was General Hux’s:

“Captain.” he said. His voice was serious “We will return to the _Finalizer_ tomorrow. Be ready to receive us.”

“Yes, sir.” Phasma replied. Hux didn’t say anything else, so they just hanged out and she looked at her datapad again, only to have a grim surprise: it was back to what she was looking at before the letters had appeared, like nothing different had happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo, I'll admit that this one took me a while to write, but luckily the same won't happen to the next ones. This story means a lot to me, so I'm glad to be back on writing it!
> 
> Hope you have enjoyed this chapter! May the Force be with you always! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is it for today! I really hope you have enjoyed the first chapter of The Captain's Stain! Many more are yet to come! If you want to better understand what's going on with Phasma, I suggest that you read my one-shot Warrior, because I tried to deeply show her feelings regards this whole situation that started so long ago.
> 
> For news and extra contenent (playlists, aesthetics, cover art, etc), please follow my Tumblr, RecklessDarkness!
> 
> Have a blessed day and may the Force be with you! <3


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